' . . »* 









•^ y**^ 

> V^* •' 

^ .^'X 




Views from Plymouth Eock; 



A SKETCH OF THE 



EARLY HISTORY OF THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 



g^signeir iax §^amxQ ^eopU* 



By Z. a. MUDGE, 

AUTHOR OP "the christian STATESMAN," "FOREST POT," ETC. 




SIX ILLUSTRATIONS- 

New York: . r-.r-:^^>^ 

CARLTON & LANAHAK 

CINCINNATI: HITCHCOCK & WALDEN. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL D E P A 11 T M E N T. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the j^ear 1869, 

BY CARLTON & LANAHAN, 

in the Clerk's OfBce of the District Court of the United States for 
the Southern District of New York. 



l-I^Oij 






PREFACE 



This sketch of Plymouth Colony is confined, 
as the title-page states, to its early history ; 
yet it embraces the principal facts in the 
career of the Mayflower Pilgrims. It is mainly 
an attempt to present in a popular form, for 
the gratification and instruction of young 
people, the narratives of Bradford and Wins- 
low, of late for the first time published in 
their unmutilated form. 'No liberty has been 
taken with the facts to make a lively story 
n,t the expense of the truth of history. 



6 Pkeface. 

We take pleasure in acknowledging onr 
indebtedness to articles in "The Sabbath at 
Home," on " The Footprints of the Pilgnms," 
written by 'Rev. Dr. H. M. Dexter, of Boston. 

We desire that this unambitious effort may 
stimulate the youth of our country to study 
and emulate the integrity and genuine piety of 
the founders of our Republic. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE EARLY HOME OF THE PILGRIMS. 

Views from the Rock — A Trip across the Atlantic — A Rail- 
road Excursion — Scrooby — The Pasture Lot — " The Manor of 
tlie Bishop " — The Pilgrim Church — King James and the 
" Ceremonies " — "William Brewster — The aged Pastor — The 
young "Teaching Elder" — The Master of the House smit- 
ten Page 19 

CHAPTER n. 

WANDERINGS. 

A New Home sought — Holland — Great Sacrifices — At- 
tempted Escape — The Betrayal — A Second Effort to leave 
England — The Surprise — The Separation — Great Sorrow — The 
Storm and Perils at Sea — The Reunion — Amsterdam — The 
Two English Churches — The Deaconess — Contentions — A New 
Home sought 32 

CHAPTER m. 

SOJOURNING. 

Leyden — Its Situation — Great Embarrassments — "William 
Bradford — Employments — Brewster a Teacher and Book Pub- 
lisher — King James annoyed — The baffled Embassador — The 
Love of the Pilgrims for each other — Their Name in Leyden . 43 



8 Contents. 

CHAPTER rV. 

THE CHIEF PILGKIMS. 

The Eev. John Eobinsou — His Birthplace — Teased from his 
Parish — His Liberal Spirit — His famous Debate and " Victory " 
— Elder Brewster — Castle Hediugham — Brewster at Court — 
In Holland— Post of Scrooby— His Children— William Brad- 
ford — A Grlance at Austerfield — Bradford in Youth and early 
Manhood — Deacon John Carver — Dr. Samuel Fuller — Edward 
Winslow — The Pilgrim "Warrior — Old Footprints Page 56 

CHAPTER V. 

CONFLICTS AND FAREWELLS. 

A Removal Proposed — Serious Discussions — The Divine Guid- 
ance sought — Decision — Application to the "Virginia Company 
— Religious Freedom Asked and Denied — The Pilgrim Purpose 
stated — A Farewell Sermon — The Offers from Dutch Mer- 
chants 74 

CHAPTER VI. 

A FINAL ADIEU TO THE FATHERLAND. 

A Critical Moment — The Final Decision — Preparation to de- 
part — Fresh Perplexities — Farewell Meetings — Tlie Sail to 
Delfthaven — Departure from Holland — Arrival at Southamp- 
ton — A disappointed Merchant — More Sacrifices — Their Pas- 
tor's Letter of Counsel 86 

CHAPTER Vn. 

THE PILGRIMS AFLOAT. 

The Mayflower and Speedwell — Returns and Disappoint- 
ments — The Speedwell abandoned and the Company divided — 
At Sea at Last — Pleasant Sailing — A Change — Fierce Storms 
— A Critical Position — Incidents at Sea — A Solemn Death — 



Contents. 9 

A Narrow Escape — A Death — A Little Stranger — Land-lio! — 
Cape Cod — Provincetown Harbor — "The Compact" — The 
First Governor Page 96 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE MAYFLOWER AT ANCHOR. 

A Pioneer Party ashore — Fragrant Wood — The First Sab- 
bath — The Women ashore — First Impressions — The Harbor — 
An Exploring Expedition — First Indians seen — The Chase — 
Hard Walking — The Camp-fire — Open Fields — Forsaken Huts 
— Indian Corn — The Deer-trap — A Humorous Remark — The 
Return 10*7 

CHAPTER IX. 

SEARCHING FOR A HABITATION. 

The Mayflower Company busy — The Second Sabbath — The 
Shallop launched — The Voyage of Discovery — Cornhill — A 
discouraged Captains-Forsaken Wigwams — The Return of the 
Shallop — Another Little Stranger — An Important Debate — A 
Startling Incident 123 

CHAPTER X. 

THE ROCK FOUND. 

The Third Expedition — In Wellfleet Bay — Indians — An in- 
teresting Encampment — Grampus — Precautions — An Alarm — 
"Indians! Indians 1 ! " — A Fight — The Victory — The Pilgrims 
return Thanks — The Voyage continued — The Voyagers in 
Peril— A Night of Suspense— A Sabbath of Rest— The Rock 
—A Good Report 136 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE LANDING. 

A sad Acciden-t— The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor — 
" The Goodly Land " — The Shore Explored — The Consultation 



10 Contents. 

— The Place of Settlement — Beginniug to Build— False Alarms 
— A dreary Christmas — " The Common House " finished — A 
Street planned — Cold Rains and Storms — Illness — The first 
Religious Meeting in the Common House Page 153 

CHAPTER Xn. 

INCIDENTS OF THE FIRST WINTER. 
Sickness and Death— The Faithful Few— The Scoffers hum- 
bled — Touching Incidents — Cole's Hill — Indian Camp-fires — 
Fishing Excursions — Billington Sea — Lost in the "Woods — 
"Fire! fire! " — Fat Geese — Venison — Military Organization — 
More Indian Alarms — A Pleasant Occasion — Further Explora- 
tions — Planting commenced 165 

CHAPTER XHI. 

INDIAN VISITORS. 

A bold but welcome Stranger — His Entertainment — In- 
teresting and Important Information — Unwelcome Sabbath 
Callers — They "drink" Tobacco — "Squanto," another Indian 
Caller — His remarkable History — Massasoit the Great Sachem 
— His Visit — Drinks " Strong "Waters " — Friendly Intercourse 
— The Important Treaty — Departure of the Indians — The 
Pilgrim Military Arrangements completed 182 

CHAPTER XIV. 

AN ERRAND OF PEACE. 

The Departure of the Mayflower — The Death of Governor 
Carver — "William Bradford elected Governor — The first Mar- 
riage at Plymouth — "Winslow and Hopkins sent to Massasoit 
— Their Errand — The first Night of the Journey — An amusing 
Incident — A needless Alarm — The Presents for Massasoit — 
The Sachem's poor Entertainment of the Messengers — His 
Answer to their Message — The return Journey 198 



Contents. 11 



CHAPTER XV. 

A VISIT OF JUSTICE AJSHD LOYE. 

The lost Boy — His Captivity among the Nausets — The 
Expedition for his Eecovery — It encounters a Storm — A. 
Friendly Chief— The afflicted Indian Mother — The Owner of 
the Corn taken at Cornhill remunerated — The lost Boy found 
— An alarming Report — Return to Plymouth — A War-cloud 
— Captain Standish on the War-path — A Night Attack — A 
good ending Page 211 

CHAPTER XVI. 

AN EXCURSION TO THE MASSACHUSETTS. 

The Massachusetts — Their Country — The Sail up the Bay — 
A pleasant halting Place — Their second Night's Anchorage — 
An unfortunate Sachem — The Squaw Sachem — A Savage 
Proposal rejected — A coveted Locality 220 

CHAPTER XVH. 

SUNSHINE AND CLOUDS. 

The first Harvest — Tlianksgiving — Massasoit at the Feast — 
The Ship Fortune — An old Friend and News from the Father- 
land — The return Cargo of Furs — A sad Loss — "The New- 
comers " — A Case of Conscience — The Rattlesnake Skin — 
The return Challenge — Standish 's Mihtary Organization — The 
Stockade — Squanto's Doubte-dealing — A Messenger of evil 
Tidings — The False Accusers detected — Squanto's Head de- 
manded — His narrow Escape 226 

CHAPTER XVm. 

A SEARCH AFTER CORN. 

Letters from the old Home — A small Supply of Provisions — 
Winslow's successful Visit to the Eastward — A. friendly Cap- 
tain — The Ships Charity and Swan — Ungrateful Visitors — Set- 



12 Contents. 

tleraent at Wessagussett — Its wicked Crew — More trading 
Ships— A baffled Expedition— Bradford's search for Corn — 
Squanto's Death — Wreck of the Shallop — Standish's Visit to 
the Nausets — Stolen G-oods — A ludicrous Indian Ceremony — 
Bradford again on the Search — An interesting Incident — An 
Attempt to kiU Standish Page 242 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE SICK SACHEM. 

Sickness of Massasoit— "Winslow sent to his Rehef— The 
Sick Chief reported Dead — The Messenger finds him very Sick 
— His rapid Recovery — His Relapse and final Restoration — 
His G-ratitude — Winslow prescribes for his sick People — Massa- 
soit's secret Message to Hobomok — Corbitant's Pleasantry — 
Winslow is told by Hobomok of the Indian Plot, and hastens 
Home 260 

CHAPTER XX. 

STAISTDISH ON THE WAB-PATH. 

The sad Condition of the Settlement at Wessagussett — A 
Fugitive and his Story — Standish's prompt Movements — The 
Indian Boasters — Standish's Coolness — The fearful Death- 
struggle — The Conspirators killed — Hobomok's remarkable 
Battle— The Head of Wituwamat 211 

CHAPTER XXI. 

INCIDENTS OF THE THIKD SUMMER. 

Large Crops demanded — A new Arrangement with the 
Laborers — New Life in the Colony — Great Destitution — Five 
kernels of Corn — A wicked Schemer foiled — An exacting Ship- 
master — The Drought — The Day of Fasting and Prayer — 
" The soft, sweet, and joyous Showers " — The wondering Sav- 
age — Welcome Vessels and happy Reunions — More Letters — 
Governor Bradford and the Friend of his Youth — Their Mar- 
riage 283 



Contents. 13 

CHAPTER XXn. 

" IN PEKILS." 

Poor "Weston again — Captain Robert Gorges — His Colony 
at Wessagusset — The Little James — Winslow's Visit to En- 
gland — False Accusations answered — The Carpenter and Salt- 
maker — An annoying Clergyman — His kind Reception and false 
Pretensions — His Plots and their Exposure — His Accomplice 
in Custody — The Clergyman's professed Penitence — His Hypoc- 
risy and Banishment — An amusing Incident Page 295 

CHAPTER XXIH. 

CHANGES AND TRIUMPHS. 

Brewster's religious Teaching — An agreeable Surprise — Ad- 
ditions to the Church — Standish sent to London — The Turkish 
Pirate — Plentiful Harvest — Winslow on the Kennebec — Re- 
turn of Standish — The Merchant Adventurers — New Goods 
bought "at great Cost — Death of the Rev. John Robinson and 
Robert Cushman — King James passed away — Mr. Allerton 
sent to England — New Arrangement with the Merchants — 
A Stock Company formed — The Leyden Friends — Trade — An 
afflicted Minister 314 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

FRIENDLY VISITORS. 

The Dutch Settlement — Their Secretary — Correspondence — 
His Visit — His Description of Plymouth — "Wampum — A Min- 
ister found — Governor Winthrop's Visit — The Pilgrim Mode 
of "Worship — The Return of "Winthrop and his Companj'- — 
Social Position of the Pilgrims 325 

CHAPTER XXV. 

PILGRIM TRADE AND ITS RESULTS. 

The remaining Leyden Friends at Plymouth— A generous 
Deed — Mount "Wollaston and Thomas Morton — His wicked 



14 Contents. 

Conduct — The Pilgrims interfere — Morton sent to England for 
Trial — Robbery of the Plymouth Trading Post on the Penob- 
scot — A painful Affair on the Kennebec — The Pilgrims blamed 
— Their Acquittal — Trade established on the Connecticut — 
Sickness — The Death of Dr. Fuller — Removals to Duxbury — 
Troubles with Pequod Indians — The "War on the Part of 
Massachusetts — The Execution of three white Men for Mur- 
der — Close of Business Matters Page 340 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE PILGKIM CHURCH AND ITS CONFLICTS 

Ralph Smith — Roger Williams — His Troubles with the 
Massachusetts Colony — Wanderings in the Woods — Settle- 
ment at Rhode Island — A good Pastor — An earnest Dis- 
cussion — A troublesome Clergyman — The Plymouth Church 
propose to move to Bastham — The Mourning of the "Mother 
Church"— The Quaker Troubles— G-r eat Mistakes 351 



CHAPTER XXVn. 

THE LAST DAYS OF THE CHIEF PILGRIMS. 

The Union of the New England Colonies— Its Effects— The 
Early Dead — William Brewster — His Prominence and Use- 
fulness — His Removal to Duxbury — Deaths in his Family — 
Marriages — Employment in his last Days — His Library — His 
last Moments — Miles Standish — Late Services as a Military 
Leader — A Neighbor to Elder Brewster — A gossiping Story 
of Miles Standish and John Alden — Edward Winslow — Useful 
to the Last — Death on Shipboard and Burial at Sea — William 
Bradford— Llis great and long Prominence in the Colony 
— Death and Burial — John Howland — John Alden — His stern 
Pilgrim Character — His old Age and Death — The honored 
Descendants of tlie Pilgrims 368 



Contents. 15 

CHAPTER XXVni. 

CURIOUS LAWS. 

The Pilgrim Community peculiar — "The Compact "—Terms 
of Citizenship — Deference to men in Office — A fine for Refusing 
to hold Office — "Town Meetings "^Trial by Jury — Old 
Records — The first Offense — Profane Swearing and Lying 
punished — The G-ossiper in Court — Contempt for Psalm-sing- 
ing reproved — "Chopping" father-in-laws not allowed — The 
Sabbath guarded — The Pilgrim way of curing Infidelity — 
Amusements regulated — King Alcohol cautioned — Naughty 
"Wives whipped — Slanderers Punished " severely " — Improper 
Courtships forbidden — Dress of the "Women regulated — Care 
of Mechanics and Trade — Growth of Plymouth Page 384 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

DOMESTIC AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS. 

First Dwelling-houses — The ample Fire-place — " The Settle " 
— The Dress of the Pilgrims — Pilgrim Hospitality — Brown 
Bread, Hasty Pudding, Succotash, etc. — Popular Education — 
Religious Habits — First Sermon — The First Church — The 
Meeting-houses of the Old Style—Order in God's House — 
Riding to Church — Modes of Address 397 

CHAPTER XXX. 

" PILGRIM HALL " VISITED. 

A pleasant Ride — The Hall — The Carver Chair — the Brews- 
ter Chair — An old Deed — " A Sampler " — The Standish Sword 
— A curious Dressing-case — A Pocket-book — Mayflower Bible 
— Historical Painting — " The Pilgrim Society" 410 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE ROCK AND ITS HISTORY. 

The Rock — Its present Position— How came it there? — Its 
Geological Character— Its History — Elder Faunce's Testimony 



16 Contents. 

— The Eecollections of Deacon Spooner — How the Rock was 
split and separated — The Canopy over it — The Improvements 
in Cole's Hill — The proposed Monument, . . > Page 424 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

PASTING VIEWS. 

The Court House— The old Records— " Burial Hill"— Beau- 
tiful Scenery — The Site of the old Block-House — The un- 
marked Graves — Leyden-street — The first Log-houses and 
"Garden Lots "—Town Brook— The Sand-flats— A Visit to 
" Captain's Hill " — The Farms of Elder Brewster and Captain 
Standish — The Site of the Brewster Homestead — The Standish 
House — Old Relics — The Spring — A last View 435 



^IhxnixnixauB. 



Pilgrim Meeting-house 2 

Map op Plymouth Rock ., 18 

Site of Manor House 2*7 

EiRST Sabbath on Clark's Island 150 

Leyden-street 341 

Burial Hill 442 



Plymoijte 

BAY 

iSecdc 2i3rilcs 
pcrliicJi 




Map of Plymouth Rock. 



VIEWS FROM PLYMOUTH ROCK, 



CHAPTEE I. 

THE EARLY HOME OF THE PILGRIMS. 

The interest connected with Views from Ply- 
moxbtli Rock cannot be fully appreciated with- 
out some acquaintance with a locality far away 
from it. As these views extend to a people 
who have widely scattered from this center, 
forming villages and cities and States in the 
New World, so they glance back to a few 
despised persons in the Old World — the fathers 
of them all. We propose to ^:s. our attention 
upon these, and to follow them through the 
well-fought fields of moral conflict, until they 
are settled about the Rock which they have 
rendered famous. 

Taking, then, an ocean steamer from an Amer- 
ican port, we cross the Atlantic, pass through 



20 YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 

the English Channel to the Thames, and land 
in London. Here, entering the cars, we turn 
our faces northward, and after a ride of one hun- 
dred and fortj-eight miles, every one of which is 
full of interest to the stranger from the 'New 
World, we step out at the obscure village of 
^ Scrooby. It lies in N"ottinghamshire, on its 
extreme northern border, near where it joins 
Yorkshire, and not far from the border of Lin- 
colnshire. The noble river Trent passes near 
it, and joins the Humber about twenty-five 
miles further north ; and the shore of the 
North Sea is forty miles to the east. 

Scrooby is of itself even less important than 
our own Plymoutli. We leave the railroad 
station and walk about the vicinity, and see 
nothing not usual in an English rural district. 
It is a rolling country, with highly cultivated 
lands which have been reclaimed from meadows, 
and fields neatly divided by green hedgerows. 
Here is a small but venerable-looking church, 
well constructed of smooth hewn stone. With- 
in its walls the humble villagers have worshiped 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 21 

for at least seven hundred years. Externally it 
lias remained unaltered from its erection. ITear 
it is a small Methodist chapel, which reminds 
us of a New-England school-house in a past 
generation. 

But that which most demands our attention 
is a pasture-lot on one side of the village. Let 
us take our stand under a group of aged syca- 
mores near its center. This area is surround- 
ed by "a moat" or ditch, now dry. On the 
north side is the streamlet Ryton. On our 
right, as we face the stream, is the railroad 
whose bridge spans the Ryton, adding to the 
beauty of the scene. Near to the stream is a 
curious-looking farm-house, with its ont-build- 
ings. Standing just here, viewing things as 
they are, we will endeavor to describe them as 
they were a little more than two hundred and 
fifty years ago. 

On the spot pressed by our feet there stood 
" the manor-house of the bishop " having the 
oversight of the Churches of the vicinity. It 
was one of the lordly mansion of the times. 



22 Views fkom Plymouth Kock. 

It was built of heavy timber, and inclosed by 
an inner and outer wall within the moat, show- 

^ ing that the spiritual leaders of those days were 
much afraid of the carnal weapons of the wick- 
ed. Nothing remains of this manor-house now, 
except a part of its " room of state," or re- 
ception-room, which has been put to the mean 
purpose of forming portions of the frame of 
the cow-house of the present cottage. In 
this mansion kings and queens, and other great 
personages, had rested for the night on their 
journey from London to the capital of Scot- 
land; for Scrooby was on the great mail road 
between those places. Here, in the season 
for game, bishops from surrounding manors 
came to hunt ; and it is still more sad to record, 
they came at other times to enjoy its nearness 
to a race-course, whose sports they delighted to 
witness. To this mansion the celebrated Car- 

, dinal Wolsey retired when dismissed in auger 
from the presence of the King whom he had 
served at the peril of his soul ; and it was at 
the time he was here that ho bittei-ly exclaimed, 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 23 

" If I had served the God of heaven as faithfully / 
as I did my master on earth, he had not for- 
saken me in my old age." 

And here in this manor-honse, after it had 
ceased to be an Episcopal mansion, in 1606, com- 
menced the Pilgrim Church whose members 
made the Plymouth settlement — a vine which, 
transplanted to the rocky soil of Kew England, 
has spread its rich foliage and choice fruit over 
the Nortli American continent. 

How there came to be a Church in this 
place, and what kind of a Church it was, we 
shall briefly state. 

For many years the professed people of God 
had been contending about ceremonies of relig- 
ious worship and the discipline of the Church. 
For about fifty years the Protestants had ruled 
the country ; but many thought that too great 
a number of the forms of the Roman Catholic 
Church were still in use. Good men, and even 
the bishops and great men, were divided in 
opinion about these questions; but Queen 
Elizabeth, whoso long reign ended in 1603, 



24 Views from Plymouth Kock. 

altbongh a Protestant, favored forms and cere- 
monies ; and the weak-minded, fickle, and un- 
principled James I., who now reigned, did 
the same with less intelligence and more ob- 
stinacy. He declared, with loud and threat- 
ening words, that he would make those who 
disliked the ceremonies of worship in the 
Church " conform," or " harry them out of the 
land, or do worse." Some of the forms about 
which this King of a great nation became so 
angry appear trifling enough. Certain min- 
isters, in their complaints to the government, 
say that they were arrested, fined, and im- 
prisoned for matters of small moment, as they 
thought, such as singing the psalm "Now 
dismiss us " in the morning ; putting the 
questions to the "godfathers" instead of to 
the infants, at baptism ; for not lifting up the 
cross in baptism ; and omitting the riag in 
marriage ! 

'No wonder some became prejudiced, and en- 
gaged in bitter opposition to the State Church. 
Others, more reasonable, wished sirapl}^ to see 



Views from Plymouth Eock. 25 

the wheat separated from the chaff. In the 
midst of these contentions there were little 
groups scattered over th^ land whose hearts 
were sincerely and earnestly set npon loving 
God and being saved in heaven. Some of 
these were members of the State Church, and 
loved its ceremonies, except the Koman Catholic 
vanities ; others would have nothing to do with 
it, and were willing to suffer ; and some of them 
did suffer the loss of all things, even life itself, 
for this conscientious belief. How strange that 
the King, and the other rulers of the country, 
did not allow all men to think and act as they 
pleased in these matters, while they did not 
interfere with the rights of others, leaving 
them to give account to God only. But the 
freedom we enjoy has grown slowly, and cost 
much. 

The Church in the manor-house was a com- 
pany of these pious people. They had felt 
King James's hanrrow, and it had teased and 
lacerated them. They loved and held Church 
fellowship with the truly holy in the Church 



26 Views from Plymouth Rock. 

of whicli the King was the chief earthly shep- 
herd, but believed very strongly that the people 
of God should be '^independent" of all such 
rule. These persons belonged not only in 
Scrooby, but in Austerfields, Gainsborough, 
Bawtry, Babworth, Worksops, and other neigh- 
boring parishes. Many of their ministers, who 
could not conscientiously " conform," were 
turned away from their pulpits and met at 
times with them. Common sufferings and 
wrongs, and a common faith, make a strong bond 
of union, and the Church in the manor-house 
lived as brethren. The lai'ge and aristocratic 
rooms of this ancient home of the great were 
strange places of meeting for these despised and 
persecuted Christians ; but its landlord at that 
time was one of their warmest friends and most 
self-sacrificing adherents. His name was Will- 
iam Brewster, a man with whose intimate ac- 
quaintance we shall be pleased and instructed. 
He was now, at the commencement of their 
Church in 1606, about forty-six years of age. 
He had louo^ been a member of the State 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 29 

Church ; but the enforcement of the law against 
those who did not conform to all its ceremonies 
had driven him to these people, and to the 
adoption of their views. He was at the time a 
postmaster under King James. The business 
of the office was very different from that which 
now bears this name. His duty was to keep 
horses and men to pass the messages of the 
government between certain places. The com- 
mon people had no mail in those days. Brews- 
ter occupied the mansion because he held this 
office ; and very welcome did he make the min- 
isters and people who here sought to worship 
God according to the dictates of their own con- 
sciences. They had Kichard Clifton for their 
first pastor. "He was a grave and fatherly old 
man, with a great white beard." He had been 
parish minister at Bab worth, and had been very 
useful and greatly beloved, but was now " cast 
out." A young minister by the name of Rob- 
inson was chosen their " teacher," and Mr. 
Brewster their "ruling elder." This Church 
was very free in its mode of worship. The 



\ 



30 Views feom Plymouth Eock. 

pastor took of course the lead of the religious 
instruction in their stated service. But the 
"teaching elder" had a prominent part, and 
the "ruling elder," although it did not belong 
to his office to do so, made free remarks. These 
intelligent and pious members of the Church 
were often called upon to speak in reference to 
the Scripture which had been explained. Thus 
it had somewhat of the special character well 
fitted to their peculiar relation to each other. 
But the J were allowed the enjoyment of these 
precious privileges only a short time. The 
agents of the King were set diligently at work 
"to harry them out of the land." Brewster, 
who had as his friends "the good gentlemen 
of those parts," besides being an officer of the 
crown, was a shining mark. His office was 
taken from him, and an iaiplied " leave to quit" 
the manor-house granted. He was also com- 
manded to appear before the court to answer 
to the charges held against him for his mode 
of worship; and, as he did not appear, was 
fined a hundred dollars. As the master of the 



Views from Plymouth Rock. 31 

house was thus smitten, the religious family 
began to think of seeking a new home where 
they might worship God in peace in their 
own way. Thus connnenced the early wander- 
ings of our pilgrim fathers. 



32 Views from Plymouth Eock. 



CHAPTEE II. 

WANDERINGS. 

The attempted arrest of Brewster, and the fine 
imposed upon him, were followed by attacks up- 
on the whole Church worshiping at the manor- 
house. One of their number says : " Some were 
taken and clapped into prison ; others had their 
houses beset, and watched night and day, they 
barely escaping; while the most part were fain 
to fly and leave all — habitations, •friends, and 
means of living." In these trials Brewster wae 
a " special stay and help to them." He was one 
of the oldest of their number, the most ex- 
perienced in public affairs, and possessed the 
greatest wealth. It is evident that his counsel 
was decisive in guiding their course. Finding 
that they could not live in peace in their 
fatherland he directed their attention to Hol- 
land. In the wars which had raged for many 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 33 

years between the Protestauts and Poman 
Catholics, in which Spain had used her great 
power on the side of Pome, the Low Countries 
of Holland fought bravely for religious liberty. 
With the help of England their enemies were 
driven back, and a truce of twelve years was 
declared. The Dutch then offered a home to 
the persecuted of all nations, and with them all 
might worship God as their consciences dictated. 
To Holland, therefore, the pilgrims unani- 
mously decided to go. It was a hard decision, 
requiring the sacrifice of very much that was 
dear to them. They were, with few exceptions, 
plain tillers of the soil, and strangers to traffic 
and mechanical employments. If they re- 
moved they would be in a foreign country, 
among a people unlike themselves, with whose 
language and mode of business they were un- 
acquainted. They loved their native land, with 
all its faults ; or rather, in spite of all they had 
suffered from its wicked rulers. A large circle 
of kindred and Christian friends must be left 
behind. But they were willing to submit to all 



34 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

these privations that they might worship God in 
peace. They prized that above all earthly good. 
Having made their preparations to go, a new 
difficulty appeared. All the ports were shut 
against them, and the officers of the law were 
watching at every point to prevent their de- 
parture. They could go only in private ways, 
at great expense, which they could poorly afford, 
and running at the same time as great risk of 
detection and punishment as if they were fugi- 
tives from crime. But none of these things 
daunted them. Brewster with a large company 
went to Boston, the nearest port which seemed 
to afford a chance of escape, chartered a ship 
for their sole use, and at the appointed time 
repaired to the place at which she was to receive 
them. But neither ship nor captain was there. 
With increased expense and painful solicitude 
they waited many days. The ship came at last, 
and took them and their goods on board ; but 
as soon as they were in the power of the cap- 
tain he gave them up into the hands of their 
enemies, with whom he had made an agree- 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 35 

ment for this purpose. The officers placed them 
in open boats, ransacked their goods, and inde- 
cently searched the persons of men and women 
for money. Their books, among which was the 
fine library of Brewster, their money, and the 
large part of their goods, were taken from them. 
They were then hurried into the town, where 
the people came in crowds from all quarters to 
gaze at them. They were next presented to 
the magistrates, who seemed to have had some 
pity for them, but dared not release them until 
they heard from the higher authorities ; they 
were, therefore, thrown into prison, in which 
they were confined for a month. At the end of 
this time all but seven were dismissed to return 
to their old homes in and about Scrooby. The 
seven, among whom was Brewster, were held 
for trial at the higher court. 

These events carried them to the spring of 
1608, when a portion of the same company, 
with others, made another attempt to escape to 
Holland. They proceeded very cautiously this 
time with their arrangements. Going to Tin]], 



eS6 Views from Plymouth Eock. 

a port on the Humber, some thirty miles north 
of Scrooby, they met a Dutchman with his ship 
just from his own country. Hoping that he 
would be more faithful than the other captain 
had been, they arranged to meet him on a com- 
mon at an obscure place on the shore of tlie 
Humber, not far from its mouth. To this place 
the goods were forwarded with the women and 
children, in a hired boat, while the men pro- 
posed to go by land. The boat arrived before 
the ship, and the sea being rough and the 
women sea-sick, they persuaded the captain 
of the boat to put into a quiet creek, where, at 
low water, they were aground. In the morn- 
ing the ship came, and the captain immediately 
commenced taking the men on board who were 
standing upon the shore. He had taken but 
one boat-load, and was about to send the boat 
for the remainder, when a body of armed men, 
infantry and cavalry, came suddenly upon them. 
The Dutch captain threw up his hands, exclaim- 
ing his country's oath, weiglied anchor, hoisted 
sails, and put to sea. 



Views from Plymouth Kook. 37 

Here now was a scene of anguish. Those of 
the men on shore who had most to fear from 
arrest made their escape, and the rest remained 
to relieve, if possible, and comfort those in the 
boat. They needed comforters surely ! Many 
of their husbands, fathers, and protectors were 
in the ship. The dreaded enemies were rush- 
ing upon all who remained. Mothers felt their 
own utter helplessness, while tlie children clung 
to them trembling with fear and cold. 

They were taken by the officers and hurried 
from one magistrate to another, none seeming to 
know what to do with them. The officers had, in 
their zeal for a bad cause, pounced upon a prey 
not worth taking. Their small amonnt of goods 
would hardly pay the trouble of thus carrying 
them about the country. To imprison so many 
women and children simply because they had 
attempted to follow their husbands and fathers 
might raise a storm of reproach, and possibly 
not be approved by their masters. Even a kind 
attempt to send them to their homes would be 
difficult, since those homes had been so gen- 



38 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

erallj broken up for a prospective settlement 
abroad. So sad, indeed, was their condition, 
that sympathy was excited for them not only 
in the obscure region where they were arrested, 
but in the not distant towns of Hull, Grimsby, 
and Boston. So a way was opened to relieve 
the burdened officers of their prisoners, and to 
supply the wants of the latter. Thus stimu- 
lated in heart and hope, the most of them 
immediately renewed their efforts to escape. 

While these efforts were being made, the 
fugitives in the ship which had so suddenly 
left were enduring " a great fight of afflictions." 
They wrung their hands in anguish as they saw 
the arrest of their loved ones, knowing that 
imprisonment or destitute wanderings were 
before them. As to themselves, they possessed 
nothing but the poor apparel on their persons. 
To add to their distress a fearful storm arose. 
For seven days neither sun, moon, nor- stars 
appeared. They were driven violently to the 
coast of I^orway. The ship seemed about to 
sink, and tlie sailors themselves with shrieks 



YiEWs FROM Plymouth Eock. 39 

gave up all for lost. This was the time to test 
the faith of the Christian pilgrims. Says one 
of their number : " With fervent prayers they 
cried unto the Lord in their distress, even when 
the briny waters were running into their mouth 
and ears, and the mariners were crying out, 
' We sink ! we sink ! ' They without distrac- 
tion, but with great faith, cried, ' Yet, Lord, 
thou canst save ; yet. Lord, thou canst save ! ' " 

From this moment the ship began to be 
manageable, and the fierceness of the tempest 
to abate ; " and," says the narrator, '' the Lord 
filled their afflicted minds with such comforts 
as every one cannot understand." 

After fourteen days of bufietings upon the sea 
they arrived safely at Amsterdam. Here many 
people flocked to see them, wondering at their 
escape, so violent had been the storm and great 
the damage upon the coast. 

Early in the summer all had come over, 
" some at one time and some at another." 
Their pastor, Mr. Eobinson, and Elder Brews- 
ter, though most exposed to arrest, were the 
3 



40 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

last to leave the English shore, having nobly 
exposed their own liberty and life the longest 
to help the weak and timid. 

Their historian says : " Being now come into 
the Low Countries they saw many goodly and 
fortified cities, strongly walled and guarded 
with troops of armed men. Also they heard a 
strange and uncouth language, and beheld the 
different manners of the people, with their 
strange fashions and attires ; all so far differ- 
ing frem their plain country villages wherein 
they were bred and born, and had so long 
lived, as it seemed they were come into a new 
world. But those were not the things they 
looked on, or long took up their thoughts ; for 
'they had other work in hand, and another kind 
of war to wage and maintain. For though 
they saw fair and beautiful cities, flowing with 
abundance of all sorts of wealth and riches, 
yet it was not long before they saw the fright- 
ful face of poverty coming on them like an 
armed man, with whom they must buckle and 
encounter, and from whom they could not fly. 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 41 

But they were armed with faith and patience 
against him and all his encounters ; and though 
they were sometimes foiled, yet by God's as- 
sistance they prevailed and got the victory." 

At Amsterdam the pilgrims found two 
Churches of English refugees, who like them- 
selves had come here to worship God in peace. 
One had been in the city some years, having 
come from London, and had a Mr. Johnson 
for 'pastor. One of the pilgrims says : " This / 
Church had one ancient widow for a deaconess, 
who did them service for many years, though 
she was sixty years of age when she was chosen. 
She honored her place and was an ornament to 
the congregation. She usually sat in a con- 
venient place in the congregation, with a little 
birchen rod in her hand, and kept little children 
in great awe of disturbing the congregation." 

That good woman if she had lived in our 
day, would have made a grand Sunday-school 
teacher, only she would, no doubt, have con- 
formed to the times and left the " little birchen 
rod" at home. 



42 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Rock. 

The other English Church at Amsterdam 
had a Mr. Smith for their pastor; the)^ had 
recently come from the vicinity of Scrooby. 
Mr. Johnson's Church was suffering by di- 
visions among its members, and was also hav- 
ing some strife with Mr. Smith's people. The 
Pilgrim Church was at peace with both, and 
had unity at home; and, as they desired to 
seek those things which make peace, and feared 
the influence of the strife of their neighbors, 
they decided to move again. The sacrifice in 
doing so was great, but the end they sought 
was to them precious. 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 43 



CHAPTEE III. 

sojourning. 

The place to whicli tliey determined to remove 
was Lejden, on tlie Rhine, thirty-eight miles 
from Amsterdam. In the winter of 1608-9 
thev forwarded a petition to the magistrates 
of that city for leave to come there " by the 
first of May next," to have the freedom of the 
city " in carrying on their trades without being 
burdensome to any one." The magistrates re- 
plied that they refused no honest persons the 
privileges of the city, and therefore " the com- 
ing of the memorialists will be agreeable and 
welcome." 

It was early in the summer of 1609 when 
our emigrant company started for Leyden. 
They had been from their English homes one 
year, long enough to be prepared for the 
strange appearance of this ancient city. It is 



M Views from Plymouth Eock. 

built on thirty islands, formed by the two 
branches of the Ehine, the "]^ew" and the 
"Old," and canals, connected by numerous 
bridges. Instead of our modern omnibuses 
and horse-cars were various water-crafts for 
passengers and freight. Here were famous old 
churches, which even then had stood for several 
hundred years, and which may be seen to-day, 
looking very much as in the pilgrim days. 
Here were dwelling-houses with curious gabels, 
in true Dutch style. Many fine streets met 
their gaze, with shady walks and noble build- 
ings. A busy population of many nations was 
here, recent wars in other parts of Germany 
having driven multitudes to Leyden for a 
place of safety. Among the general throng a 
small but peculiar class must have attracted 
the attention of the pilgrims; they were the 
students of its famous university. 

" Leyden," exclaimed one of the pilgrims, 
"is a fair, beautiful city, of a sweet situation." 
" Of a sweet situation " truly, as they were now 
viewino; it in the midst of surroundino: verdure, 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 45 

extending over the level district of Ehine land 
with its seventy villages, tufted groves, numer- 
ous flocks and herds, and countless windmills. 
Nearer than these beautiful sights, skirting 
the city, were the grim evidences of the spirit 
of the times, in walls, towers, and watchful 
soldiers. 

But not long could these things attract their 
attention. They had other and more painful 
subjects of thought. Their situation was more 
embarrassing than ever before. The deten- 
tions, imprisonments, and robberies which they 
had experienced in England, the high rates of 
passage to Amsterdam, their unsettled state 
in that city, and their present removal, had 
nearly exhausted their means, small at the 
beginning. 

But a band who had suffered so much thus 
far for conscience' sake were not easily dis- 
mayed at fresh trials. They were but new 
lessons of which there were to be many more 
of increased severity before their life's mission 
was accomplished. 



46 Views fkom Plymouth Eock. 

In deciding the question, How shall our daily 
wants be supplied ? it was a favorable circum- 
stance that the pilgrims were both able and 
willing to work. But in a population suddenly 
increased by foreign and germane strangers 
paying employment was not always to be ob- 
tained. We are sorry we are not permitted 
through a window made by the minute records 
of some one of their number to look upon their 
daily life. There was among them a young 
man by the name of Bradford, who had come 
with them from Scrooby, of whom we shall 
soon know much that will interest us. He 
might have opened such a window. What we 
have already stated, and what we shall state of 
their affairs we owe to his pen. But he allows 
us to see only a little where we would like to 
know very much. We suppose he did not 
think the world would ever care about what 
they did or how they fared. How little men 
think what records, or what materials for 
records, they are making for future time and 
for eternity ! 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 47 

As tlieir aged Pastor had remained with the 
brethren of the other Churches in Amsterdam, 
their first care was to supply his place ; this 
they did by electing his young assistant, John 
Robinson. William Brewster was their Puling 
Elder. The little flock seem to have provided 
conscientiously in their poverty for their Pastor. 
His habits of life were simple, and no doubt he 
made their burden as light as possible. 

From the feeble light given us by Mr. Brad- 
ford we know something of the daily life of the 
members. He says : '* Being now here pitched, 
they fell to such trades and employments as 
they best could, valuing peace and their spirit- 
ual comfort above an 3^ other riches whatsoever; 
and at length they came to raise a competent 
and comfortable living, and with hard and con- 
tinual labor." 

Of Brewster's and Bradford's employment in 
the city, and concerning their worldly condition, 
we know more. Brewster, who had, as we have 
seen, been a man of some wealth, was now poor. 
He had liberally distributed " to the necessities 



48 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

of the saints " until his worldly condition was 
a very humble one. Besides, his own imme- 
diate family consisted of seven persons; and 
numerous former dependents and domestics had 
followed his fortunes into Germany, for whom 
he had a great charge.'''' Of all others, he at 
this moment needed "faith in God." Most 
happily for him, and the whole company of 
whom he was an acknowledged leader, he did 
not lack that faith. Though his education 
had been that of the college and court, and 
his associates the great and wealthy, he was 
not now idle. In spirit he gave " an example 
of cheerful contentment with his lot ;" and in 
the time of his greatest need God afforded him 
an opportunity of becoming an example of dili- 
gence in business. By his early training he 
was a good Latin scholar. The business be- 
tween England and Ley den had, by the peculiar 
circumstances of the times, greatly increased, 
and it was very desirable, therefore, for young 
men to be acquainted with both languages. 
Many, especially of the university, were already 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 49 

good Latin scholars. This afforded them a 
means of communication with Brewster, and 
they came to him to learn English. A class was 
formed ; some from families of high distinction. 
Under these circumstances he turned for sup- 
port to the occupation of teaching. Danes as 
well as Germans were among his scholars. 
He prepared a grammar after the plan of tlie 
Latin grammar, and their progress in learning 
the English was very gratifying. Thus his own 
wants were supplied in a manner both honorable 
and agreeable to himself. 

Later in his stay at Leyden he was engaged, 
by the aid of some friends, in publishing re- 
ligious books. One of them was written by his 
Pastor, Mr. Robinson, and was a defense of 
freedom for all in religious worship, such as 
they had come to Leyden to enjoy. Such 
works he could not have published in England 
without being liable to imprisonment and the 
loss of both books and press. But the books, 
now found their way to England. They were 
slyly but eagerly read by thousands ; and thus 



50 YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 

what King James meant to prevent by driving 
such men away from his dominions was greatly 
aided. He meant to keep the common people 
ignorsint, and so in subjection, concerning great 
religious and political questions. So little can 
even kings do against God's truth! But the 
King was, of course, very angry to be thus de- 
feated in his plans. He had an embassador 
living at the Hague, near to Leyden. He com- 
manded him to endeavor to have the printing 
of such books prevented, and the publishers who 
had been engaged in it hunted up and punished. 
Though Holland was not his country, the Prince 
of Orange, its ruler, wishing to please him, con- 
sented to have this done. But to prevent the 
circulation of such books King James must needs 
first know where they were printed, and to pun- 
ish the publisher he must of necessity catch him. 
In this work he directed his embassador to en- 
gage with a hearty good-will. The will proved 
hearty, but not so good nor well directed. At 
one time he reported to his master that he had 
caught the rogue. The next message was 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 51 

rather humiliating, for he "had the honor of 
informing his Majesty" that the man caught 
was not the right one, since the scout who 
was employed by the magistrates for his ap- 
prehension, being a drunken fellow, '' took one 
man for another." 

The embassador, after full and painstaking 
inquiry, found out, or thought he found out, 
that, "A William Brewster hath been for 
some years an inhabitant and printer at Ley- 
den, but is now within three weeks removed 
from hence, and gone back to dwell in London, 
where he may be found out and examined." 
And again he writes : " 1 have made good 
inquiry after William Brewster at Leyden, and 
am well assured that he is not returned thither ; 
neither is it likely he will, having removed 
from thence both his family and goods." 

This last note was written in August, 1619. 
How near the facts in the case its statements 
were we shall see in the course of our narrative. 

Not being able to find Brewster, the zealous 
minister of King James turned his inquiries 



52 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

after " the friends " who furnished money to 
publish the books. The printing-house was 
searched ; types, books, and papers were seized 
and sealed." He found one Brewer, who was 
guilty of supplying Brewster with some of the 
sinews of his moral war. Brewer was "a 
university man," of wealth and high social 
position. He was arrested and put in prison, 
and ordered to England. But the officers of 
the university resented this, and roused the 
indignation of the people, if not of the govern- 
ment, and Brewer was set at liberty, " much to 
the satisfaction of the officers of the university, 
though not to the full content of the em- 
bassador." 

Such were some of the ways in which King 
James annoyed the pilgrims even in their 
foreign retreat. 

While the individual members of the pilgrim 
company were working with their hands, or 
otherwise laboring to secure an honest living, 
and were at the same time " suffering wrong- 
fully " for Christ's sake, they were, as in Am- 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 53 

sterdam, at peace among themselves, " and 
lived together in love and holiness." If at 
any time the beginning of strife appeared, 
"it was nipped in the bud betimes, so that 
love, peace, and communion were continued." 
If any were "incurable," after much patience 
used, and no other means would serve, they 
were cut off; "but," their chronicler adds, 
" this seldom came to pass." 

This chronicler, their now promising young 
member, William Bradford, recorded in later 
years this opinion of their Christian character 
while in Leyden : " Such was the humble zeal 
and fervent love of this people (while they thus 
lived together) toward God and his ways, and 
the single-heartedness and sincere affection of 
one toward another, that they came as near the 
primitive pattern of the first Churches as any 
other Church of these latter times has done, 
according to their rank and quality." 

But this partial judgment of one of their 
own number was not the only favorable one 
given by those who well knew them. The 



54 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kook. 

magistrates from their place of justice thus 
spoke a short time before the Pilgrim Church 
left the city : " These English have lived among 
us now these twelve years, and yet we never 
had any suit or accusation come against any of 
them." 

Bradford closes his eulogy by stating a very 
significant fact. He says that, "Although it 
was very low with many of them at first, yet 
their word would be taken among the Dutch 
when they wanted money, because they had 
found by experience how careful they were to 
keep their word." 

, Still further, he says that the Dutch traders 
sought their custom because they were " so 
painful and diligent in their callings ; and they 
employed them in preference to others for 
their honesty and diligence." 

Truly these old-fashioned Christians had 
some good notions of the spiritual life. They 
kept their word when they borrowed money, so 
they could borrow, even in their poverty, of the 
same person a second time ! Though it is not so 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 55 

stated, very likely they did not often borrow at 
all. Then, though they had but little to spend, 
their custom was sought because they paid for 
what they purchased. It was entirely unneces- 
sary for Bradford to say that they were em- 
ployed in preference to others by their neigh- 
bors. Such persons always are. They are 
likely to be " faithful in all things." 

This Church had no help from the govern- 
ment of Holland in the support of their pastor, 
or in providing for themselves a place of wor- 
ship, as some other Churches did, who were like 
them not of the State Church. " Certain influ- 
ences prevented." That is, we suppose, they 
did not like to displease King James ; and the 
learned men of the university would have 
"preferred " their pastor, but they feared to give 
offense " to the State of England." 

The pilgrims had now been in Holland about 
twelve years, and increased in numbers, in 
worldly condition, and in the favor of Grod and 
man. But they were about to begin again tlieir 
wanderings. 



66 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Rock. 



CHAPTER lY. 

THE CHIEF PILGRIMS. 

Many persons from England and other parts 
were added to our pilgrim company during 
their eleven years sojourn in Ley den. Some 
of them became prominent, and took their 
place among the chief pilgrims. With these, 
and the leaders from Scrooby and its vicinity, 
we are about to cross the ocean, and to be 
with them "in perils by their own countrymen, 
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, 
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, 
in perils among false brethren." A more inti- 
mate acquaintance, therefore, at the start, will 
make our journeyings and intercourse more 
agreeable. We are very sorry that they have 
not been more chatty concerning their early 
history. This has been, we are persuaded, not 
because they stood upon their dignity, but from 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 57 

modesty, they not thinking that the world 
would ever care to hear them talk of these 
matters. In this they were mistaken. The 
little that we do know of their early life we 
shall state, believing that it will be read with 
interest and profit. 

Thongh w^e are about to part with the Rev. 
John Robinson, their pastor, his influence had 
for fourteen years been so great over them, and 
is to continue so great for some years, that we 
shall want to know more about him. 

We cannot tell certainly where nor when he 
w^as born ; but the place was probably Gains- 
borough, a few miles east of Scrooby, and the 
time 1576. He graduated at one of the colleges 
of the Cambridge University ; was in early man- 
hood minister of the State Church in Mundham, 
near Norwich, from which he was " teased " by 
the agents of King James for not "conform- 
ing " to the ceremonies and discipline of that 
Church. He soon became assistant pastor, as 
we have seen, to the venerable Clifton, in the 
Scrooby Church, at which place our acquaint- 



58 "Views from Plymouth Kock. 

ance with him commenced. He was a man of 
very liberal spirit. He saw Christ in all who 
truly loved him of every denomination. He 
gave his influence against dividing the family 
of Christ for a slight cause ; " ever holding forth 
how wary persons onght to be in separating 
from a Church." He insisted, " That till Christ 
the Lord departed wholly from a Church man 
ought not to leave it, only to bear witness 
against the corruption that was in it ; and for 
schism and division, nothing in the world was 
more hateful to him ;" and this became more 
his sjDirit as he increased in years. 

Eobinson was a man of close study and great 
learning, and was, six years after his removal 
to Ley den, admitted a member of the university. 
He was also a sharp and practiced debater, and, 
as is too seldom the case, seems to have sought 
to deal fairly with his opponent, being open to 
conviction when in error. There was going on 
at the university, during the later years of his 
stay there, a famous controversy between some 
of its distinguished professors concerning cer- 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 59 

tain Christian doctrines. Robinson was cliosen 
by those of like faith as one of their champions 
in the public debates. So well did he argue, 
that in the opinion, at least, of his friend Brad- 
ford, "he succeeded, and had the victory." 
"What his Christian brethren, who differed from 
him on the points in debate, thought about " the 
victory," is not stated. 

Mr. Kobinson was a social and kind man in 
private intercourse, and after we have left him 
behind, in our voyage with the pilgrims, we 
shall be glad to hear from him by letter. 

"With William Brewster, or Elder Brewster 
as he is generally called, we have formed some 
acquaintance. The fortunes of the pilgrim 
band depended upon him, in their early move- 
ments, at least, more than upon any other per- 
son. They and their children's children felt 
the impress of his character in their social and 
political, but more especially in their religious 
life. Says a distinguished English historian : 
" This William Brewster was the most eminent 
person in the movement, and who, if that honor 



60 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 

^ is to be given to any single person, must be 
regarded as the father of New England." 

Of his birthplace there is no certain record ; 
but it may have been the village of Castle 
Hedingham, in the north of Essex county, 
forty-seven miles north-east of London, as an 
ancestral branch of his family lie buried in this 
vicinity for more than three hundred years, 
and the name of William is kept up through 
every generation. It is a family of fame and 
ability. 

Castle Hedingham has the honor of being 
the birthplace of another great historic person- 
age, in whom the American as well as English 
reader has a deep interest on account of his 
good deeds in behalf of the oppressed. We 
refer to Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, '' The 
Christian Statesman." 

Concerning the time of Elder Brewster's 
birth there is some uncertainty ; but we shall, 
with his latest biographer, put it down in 1560. 

His education was very " liberal." He early 
learned Latin, so as to be able to converse in it 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 61 

and write it readily. " He also acquired some 
insight into Greek," a language little studied 
then in comparison with Latin. He graduated 
in early manhood at the Cambridge University. 
"Here," says his friend Bradford, " he was first 
seasoned with the seeds of grace and virtue." 

He left the university "for the court," and 
entered the service of one of Queen Elizabeth's 
embassadors, William Davison. Brewster was 
not merely Davison's servant, but his trusted and 
confidential friend ; his right-hand man. The 
embassador was sent to the " Low Countries of 
Holland" at a very critical time in the Queen's 
reign, and his friend accompanied him. An 
important treaty was executed by the minister, 
in accordance with which he took possession of 
several fortified towns in her majesty's name, 
and transferred for a time the keys of one of 
them — Flushing — to Brewster. So the future 
pilgrim and elder slept with the keys of a 
fortress under his pillow, not far from the place 
where subsequently he was a fugitive from per- 
secution for the rights of religious liberty. 



62 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

Davison afterward became one of Queen 
Elizabeth's cabinet ministers, and most trusted 
and intimate advisers. But finally falling un- 
der her displeasure for faithfulness to her as 
well as to his country and his God, he was fined 
thirty thousand dollars, besides being shut up 
for years in the Tower ^ that old prison of many 
great and good persons as well as eminent crim- 
inals. When released he remained in private 
life and poverty until his death. As Brewster 
shared Davison's honors, so he shared the re- 
proach which was heaped upon him. The 
historian of his time says : " He remained with 
Mr. Davison some good time after that he was 
put from his place, doing him many faithful 
offices of service in the time of his trouble." 

Notwithstanding their sufierings at the hand 
of a fickle Queen, the embassador and Brewster 
had many friends at court who remembered 
them kindly. It was through some of these, 
no doubt, that Brewster became " Post of 
Scrooby." 

Such was the position, the training, and the 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 63 

acknowledged talent of William Brewster be- 
fore lie became a member of the Church of the 
manor-house, where we were first introduced to 
him. We cannot fail to be interested in his 
history and character upon our own shores. 

Brewster had five children, who lived to be 
known in connection with his history. Their 
names have not been bestowed upon the chil- 
dren of his numerous descendants, and are not 
likely to be revived with the increasing love for 
his memory. They were Jonathan, Patience, / 
Fear, Love, and Wrestling. They no doubt 
expressed the feelings of their parents at their 
births. 

The next chief pilgrim who attracts our more 
special attention is our young friend, William 
Bradford. We shall want to be very intimate 
with him. To understand his early history, let 
us go back to Englarid and to Scrooby. Leav- 
ing the village and taking a pleasant walk 
northward, along the old London and York 
turnpike, we shall come in less than an hour 
to the hamlet of Bawtry, and just beyond its 



64 YiEws FEOM Plymouth Rock. 

railroad depot, to tlie right, see a sign, " Foot- 
path to Ansterfield." If it is summer we shall 
be delighted witli the walk thus indicated. It 
passes through green hedge-rows and rustic 
gates, and over stiles upon which we may 
pause and enjoy the sight of fields of waving 
golden grain, meadows in which the herds are 
grazing, and the pleasant cottage homes of the 
humble laborers. In a half hour we reach the 
village of Austerfield, containing about four 
hundred people. Here William Bradford was 
born ; and we may, perhaps, pause to think 
that only a few miles from this place is the 
"long, straggling town of Ep worth," where 
the Wesleys were born. 

We shall not be lonoj in finding the small, 
curious-looking Church of Austerfield, so unlike 
any American place of religious worship. It 
is the same, in its exterior form at least, as 
when Bradford was carried to it by his parents, 
for it was built about four hundred years before 
his day. The rough stone benches on either 
side of the old porch as you enter are the same 



Views from Plymouth Rock. 65 

as when he lingered upon them before the service 
com men cecl, if indeed he was not taught the better 
practice of going directly to the parental pew. 

Having entered the audience-room we shall 
notice in the rear of the pews an open space, in 
which stand the stove, an iron box of records, 
a new " Gothic " baptismal font, and the old 
stone font now thrown carelessly into this 
dusty corner. In that iron box, among other 
old records, is a parchment on which William 
Bradford's baptism is registered, in the fair 
hand of the Rev. Henry Fletcher, his parents' 
Pastor, bearing date of March 19, 1589, or 1590 
of our present reckoning. The old stone font 
is the very one which contained the water at 
his baptism, and before which his parents 
brought him when he was consecrated to God. 
When a new one displaced it a few years ago, 
the sexton devoted it to the base purpose of a 
watering trough for his hens. The influence 
of recent American visitors has restored it 
to a respectable position. Our William was 
only two years old when his father, William 



QQ YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 

Bradford, died, and lie was placed under the 
care of his Grandfather Bradford ; and he was 
scarcely six years of age when his grandfather 
died, and he found a home in the family of his 
Uncle Robert, witn whom he lived until early 
manhood. 

In youth William gave serious attention to 
religious things, his thoughtfulness being in- 
duced by a long and painful sickness. He 
must have heard the pilgrim preachers soon 
after they came into the neighborhood, for he 
was only about sixteen years of age when he 
joined the Church at the manor-house. Per- 
haps he had walked to Babworth, only a short 
distance, and heard the awakening words of the 
faithful Clifton, afterward his Pastor. 

"William's firmness was soon tried by his 
young companions, who sneered at his early 
piety, and endeavored to shame him with the 
name of " Puritan." The little breeze of per- 
secution which they raised was only a good 
preparation for the storms which assailed him 
afterward, and he kept steadily on his course. 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 67 

William was trained to what he afterward 
called "the innocent trade of husbandry." 
There were no schools in Ansterfield, and but 
few prompters to the cultivation of the mind. 
But William had a thirst for knowledge which 
sought earnestly for gratification. His uncle 
had a frieud living a few miles off whose library 
was remarkably large and well selected for 
those days. Here it is believed William found 
books, by which he laid the foundation of a 
good education. He learned Latin and Greek, 
and afterward learned to speak fluently Dutch 
and French, But the Hebrew he studied most 
of all, because, as he said, " he would see with 
his own eyes the ancient oracles of God in their 
native beauty." 

Bradford's ancestors were among the most 
respectable of the humble citizens of Anster- 
field, and he received from them considerable 
property. This he spent liberally for the pil- 
grim cause when it came into his hands, which 
was not, probably, until after his removal to 
Holland, as he was not more than eighteen 



68 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

years of age when the company went to that 
country. 

We are now prepared to anticipate a career 
of prominence and usefulness for William 
Bradford. 

Besides these who were pilgrims from Scrooby 
there were a few of like spirit who joined them 
at Leyden. Among these we shall notice one of 
more years than any other, a grave man, whose 
counsel concerning the journey about to be 
taken we should seek as a matter of course. 
He receives our advances with great kindness, 
and gives us advice with much caution, yet 
with evident wisdom. He loolns so honest that 
we should trust him at once with the keeping 
of our purse, if necessary, and he would not be- 
tray our confidence. But we must not expect 
him to fall into any scheme we may have con- 
cerning a new liome, unless we can give him 
good reasons for it, nor can we turn him from 
his plan by mere talk. He is a very firm man 
in his purposes. If we are in want, he will be 
sure to aid us to the extent of his means, for he 



I 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 69 

has already spent the most of a valuable prop- 
erty for the advancement of the cause of the 
pilgrim company. He has just been made a 
deacon of his Church, and we feel that we shall 
always enjoy his prayers and words of exhorta- 
tion in the social meetings. His name is Johrb 
Carver. 

We are so favorably impressed with Deacon 
Carver that we shall be pleased with an intro- 
duction just here to Deacon Samuel Fuller^ 
who bears another title, that of doctor. Dr. 
Fuller is a good physician, a skillful surgeon, 
and a pious man. Certainly we skall congratu- 
late ourselves in having him in our emigrant 
company. One who can administer to our sick 
and dying bodies, and at the same time drop a 
word to strengthen our faith in Christ, is too 
seldom found, and we thank God for such a 

gift. 

We shall need in our enterprise, in addition 
to those men who can attend to the sick, aud 
those who can take the lead in our religious 
meetings, men of superior business talents. It 



70 YiEWs FROM Plymouth Rock. 

is quite important that our money affairs should 
be well managed. Brewster, Bradford, and 
Carver have good business talents, but here 
comes a man 'who loolcs the merchant jprince 
in his manly form and in his bold, intelligent 
face. His name is Edward Winslow. He is 
young, only twenty-six years of age, and will 
make up his lack of experience by his enter- 
prising spirit and born business capacity. We 
shall not mind the fact that he belongs to an 
aristocratic family of some distinction near 
Worcester, England, since he is truly pious. 
We think he*gives good evidence of his piety 
in the fact, that about three years previous to 
this time he abandoned a tour upon the conti- 
nent with his young wife and child, and entered 
with his wealth and influence into the cause of 
Christ. We shall expect him to honor the posi- 
tion of a chief pilgrim. 

When our pilgrims go, as they are talking 
of doing, across the ocean into the wilderness 
of America, they will find occasion to use some 
carnal weapons. Here is a man comnaitted to 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 71 

their fortunes, though not a merrwer of the 
Churchy who has a decided military bearing. 
Though small in stature, he has a strong con- 
stitution, capable of great endurance. He has 
an active mind, sharp and decisive. Gossip 
says he is inclined to be irritable and of quick 
resentment, but his friends find him brave and 
generous. He is about thirty-six years old. 
He is from Lancashire, England, and is heir 
to a great estate of lands and*livings, of which 
he has been cheated by less generous but sharper 
relatives ; so, having the military genius of his 
family, he became a soldier, and came to Hol- 
land with the army sent by Queen Elizabeth 
to help the Dutch drive the Spaniards from 
their country. This being done, somehow he 
becomes numbered with the devout pilgrims. 
His name is Miles Standish, and having made 
his acquaintance we cannot forget him. When, 
hereafter, we hear of war's alarms, or of the 
savage foes of the colonists. Miles Standish will 
be there. 

The curious reader will desire to know, before 



T2 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Eock. 

we start with our friends in search of a new 
home, whether they left d^xij footprints in Ley- 
den which have remained until this day. Time 
is a great eraser of the finger or foot-marks of 
busy men ; yet sometimes the patient antiquari- 
an, brushing away the dust with which they are 
covered, is rewarded by pleasant mementoes of 
the great and good of a former age. It has been 
so at Leyden. It is known, without special re- 
search, that the university building, where we 
suppose Kobinson held his famous debate, the 
cathedral under whose pavements he lies buried, 
and the chapel, in which was the University 
library where he studied, remain essentially 
the same as in the pilgrim days. From the 
old musty records many interesting facts have 
of late been brought to light. We learn that 
in 1611, two years after he came here, Robin- 
son purchased a house for three thousand two 
hundred dollars in gold currency. We know, 
too, by these records just where it stood, name- 
ly, on the street with the cathedral, and front- 
ing its south-west corner. Here, in Eobinson's 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 73 

house, no doubt, this Church worshiped, as it is 
described as a " large one," and as the cost in- 
dicates the uniting of many pilgrim purses. 
All these footprints are within a short distance 
of each other, and in the heart of the old city. 

The names of the pilgrims appear in the 
records ; their marriages, deaths, and even their 
daily business. William Bradford and Dr. 
Fuller followed the honest business of "fustian- 
makers." Winslow learned to be a printer. 
Brewster is recorded as printer and publisher. 
Others, taken together, represent almost every 
honest trade. There are no records of crimes 
against any of the company. We can go and 
stand where they are known to have prayed 
and sung, and where they received the bread 
of life from the lips of Eobinson and Brewster, 
and the associations are unmarred by thought 
of any misdeeds. 



74: YiEWS FROM Plymouth Roqk. 



CHAPTER y. 

CONFLICTS AND FAREWELLS. 

When the pilgrim company liad been about 
nine years in Leyden the chief men began to 
discuss among themselves the question of re- 
moval. This subject caused them much '' agita- 
tion of thought" and "much discourse," "not 
out of new-fangledness or other such-like giddy 
humor," but for reasons vrhich seemed to them 
very serious. Holland had proved an exceed- 
ingly hard place in which to obtain the com- 
mon comforts of life. Many on this account" 
who were in sympathy with their religious feel- 
ings would not remain with them, and many 
more refused to come to them. The strong 
were growing weak, and the old were fainting 
under its hard service ; and so they feared the 
Church would soon be broken up. Many of 
their young people were discouraged or broken 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. Y5 

down in health; and not a few of the yoang 
men, for the want of attractions at home, became 
soldiers or sailors, and were thus driven from 
under the paternal roof; and, what was more 
grievous to be borne, those who remained at 
home were, " by the manifold temptations of the 
country," drawn away from the path of virtue ; 
^'getting the reins off their necks and depart- 
ing from their parents." The pilgrims began 
to despair, too, of making much headway 
against the current of Sabbath desecration 
which then swept over the Low Countries. 
Besides, it was no small matter with them that 
they, or at least their children, might lose the 
English language and the name of English, 
to which they clung with a fondness that dis- 
tance and suffering did not abate. But above 
all these reasons this one was the most im- 
portant, " A great hope and inward zeal that 
they had of laying some good foundation, or 
at least to make some way thereunto, for the 
advancing of the Gospel of the kingdom of 
Christ in those remote parts of the world ; yea, 



76 YiEWs FROM Plymouth Eock. 

thougli they should be only as stepping-stones 
unto others for the performing of so great a 
work.*' 

When the leaders had for some time pondered 
upon this grave subject it was brought before 
their whole company, and the proposal made 
for them to remove across the seas. Of course 
there was a great diversity of opinion at once 
expressed. Some saw only sufferings and final 
death as the result of the project ; the women 
and children would not, they said, be able to 
endure the long voyage ; those who reached the 
far-off country would be exposed to exhausting 
labors, to hunger, to nakedness, and to the mer- 
ciless cruelty of the savages ; and they urged 
further, that to make the experiment in this 
hard enterprise would require more money 
than could be obtained by the sale of all their 
goods. 

To these objections there were earnest an- 
swers : All great undertakings were beset with 
difficulties, which must be met with a becoming 
courage; a good part of the obstacles feared 



YiEws FEOM Plymouth Koce. 77 

would, perhaps, never exist; others might be 
raore easily overcome than was supposed; at 
any rate, by' the blessing of God they might 
expect to gain a final triumph in the path of 
duty; and even if many of them died in the 
effort they would fall in a good cause ; if they 
remained in Leyden, even, new trials awaited 
them in the renewal of war between the 
Dutch and Spaniards, which was now threat- 
ened ; the cruelty of the Spaniards in Holland 
might prove worse than the ferocity of savages 
in America. 

After long consideration of these things the 
majority decided for removal. A general meet- 
ing was called, in which prayers were offered 
for the guidance of God in selecting a place 
for their future home. Concerning this also 
they were in great perplexity. Some, " and 
none of the meanest," desired to go to Guiana. 
Sir Walter Raleigh had been there, and on his 
return published a flaming account of its at- 
tractions : Its capital was a great and golden 
city; the country the most beautiful in the 



T8 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

world, with hills of goodly prospects ; " groves 
of trees by themselves, as if they had been by all 
the arts and labor of the world so made of pur- 
pose ;" rivers along whose grassy banks the deer 
fed in happy security, or came to its brink to 
quench their thirst, or to greet the passing boat, 
as if trained to the master's call; "the birds 
toward the evening singing on every tree a 
thousand several tunes ;" " the air fresh with a 
gentle easterly wind;" and, to crown its at- 
tractions to sordid man, " every stone full of 
promise by its complexion of either gold or 
silver." 

But the majority decided against Guiana, 
deeming it an unhealthy country, and fearing 
the Spaniards, who were likely to be its rulers. 

Another portion of the company were in 
favor of going to Virginia, where the English 
had already commenced a settlement; but fears 
were expressed by others that if they should go 
there under the government of those who had 
already gone they might suffer the same per- 
secution for their religious faith as they did in 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 79 

England. Thus obstacles seemed to be in their 
path whether thej would remain in Holland, 
or turn to the right hand or left. In these 
perplexities thej laid their business before God 
in daily prayer, both in their public and private 
meetings. At last the path of duty appeared 
clear. They decided to go, if possible, to Yir- 
ginia, and seek some place where they could 
live as a distinct community. This seemed 
easy in so large and thinly settled a country. 
They resolved to apply to King James for the 
privilege of religious freedom. 

To carry out their plan they sent two agents 
to England in the autumn of 1617. They were 
Robert Oushman and Deacon John Carver. 
Mr. Cushman was one of those who joined the 
company in Ley den, and was a chief man, and 
very useful in the enterprise ; but we have not 
mentioned him as a chief pilgrim because he 
did not go with them to their new home. 

When these two messengers of the Leyden 
Company arrived in England they first laid their 
business before the Virginia Company, formed 



80 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 

by " certain knights, merchants, gentlemen, and 
adventurers of London," to whom the King had 
given a charter to make settlements in America 
any where between the points on the coast now 
known as Cape Fear and the eastern end of 
Long Island. 

There was another company, called the 
Northern Yirginia Company; but it was to 
the London Company our friends applied, 
and found them, or at least some influential 
men among them, very cordial. They and 
other friends, among whom was one of the 
King's secretaries, applied to the King to grant 
the pilgrims a pledge that they should be al- 
lowed the privilege in America of worshiping 
God in the way they believed he required. He 
refused to grant them this in writing and sealed 
with the royal seal, so as to make it a law, as 
they desired, and would merely give them his 
promise that if they " carried themselves peace- 
ably they should not be disturbed." The mer- 
chants thought this would do; but it did not 
so well please the pilgrims. When the mes- 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 81 

senger returned to Holland witli this report it 
gave great discouragement to many. The 
chief men, however, were resolved to proceed, 
thinking if the King would not keep his prom- 
ise he would find some way to break his law. 
So Mr. Cushman, accompanied this time by 
Elder Brewster, was sent again to England. 
It will be remembered that the English minis- 
ter at Leyden attempted to prevent the print- 
ing of books there on religious freedom, and 
wrote his master " That one Brewster had been 
engaged in the business, and had run away to 
England with his family." This minister knew 
as little of Brewster's business in England as he 
did of the true character of the pilgrims. 

Brewster found among the managers of the 
Virginia Company an old friend of the days of 
his worldly honors under Davison; his name 
was Edwin Sandys, the son of a bishop, and 
brother of him of whom Brewster hired " the 
manor-house " at Scrooby. Sir Edwin was the 
right man in the proper place for the Leyden 
Company, and he wrote to them a very encour- 



82 Views feom Plymouth Kock. 

aging letter concerning tlie business of their 
agents, and in reference to a more full state- 
ment of their purposes. To this letter an an- 
swer was sent bj the pilgrims, in which the 
writers make the following statements, which 
the reader will remember with deep interest 
when he follows them through their trials in 
America. Their truth is a kind of key to the 
future history of the pilgrims. 

Here are the statements : 

"1. We verily believe and trust the Lord is 
with us, unto whom, and whose service, we 
have given ourselves in many trials ; and that 
he will graciously prosper our endeavors ac- 
cording to the simplicity of our hearts therein. 

" 2. "We are well weaned from the delicate 
milk of our mother country, and inured to the 
difficulties of a strange and hard land, which 
yet we have in a great part by patience over- 
come. 

" 3. The people are, for the body of them, 
as industrious and frugal, we think we may say, 
as any company in the world. 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 83 

" 4. We are knit together as a body in a most 
strict and sacred bond and covenant of the 
Lord, of the violation of which we make great 
conscience, and by virtue whereof we do hold 
ourselves straitly tied to all care of each 
other's good, and of the whole by every one, 
and sa mutually. 

"5. Lastly, it is not with us as with other 
men whom small things can discourage, or small 
discontentments cause to wish themselves at 
home again. We know our entertainment in 
England and in Holland ; we shall much preju- 
dice both our arts and means by removal; if 
we should be driven to return we should not 
hope to recover our present comforts, neither 
indeed look ever for ourselves to attain unto 
the like in any other place during our lives." 

There were many letters passed between the 
" Leyden Company " and the '^ Council" of the 
Yirginia Company, for this matter was in nego- 
tiation for more than two years. In the mean 
time the Council fell into bitter contentions 
among themselves, and gave but little heed to 



84 Views from Plymouth Eock. 

the requests of the pilgrims. But after awhile, 
we cannot tell exactly when, " the charter " was 
granted them by the Company, giving them a 
right to certain lands and privileges near, it is 
supposed, the mouth of the Hudson River. 
This was brought to Ley den by one of the 
messengers, with proposals from certain mer- 
chants who were to provide a ship for their 
passage, and the necessary outfit for a colony ; 
these made large promises, and requested that 
they should prepare themselves with all speed 
for the voyage. 

When the pilgrims had received this report 
by the agent they appointed a day of fasting 
and humiliation, and sought by prayer the di- 
vine blessing of God on their preparations. Mr. 
Eobinson preached from 1 Samuel xxiii, 3, 4: 
" And David's men said unto him, We be afraid 
here in Judah, how much more if we come to 
Keilah against the host of the Philistines. Then 
David asked counsel of the Lord," etc. From 
this text he gave them many words of counsel 
and encouragement. After this they decided 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 85 

what number and what individuals should first 
go, for they could not at present command 
sufficient means for all to go. It was found 
that the greater number must remain behind ; 
and so these claimed their Pastor, who con- 
sented to remain with them. Mr. Brewster 
was requested to accompany the portion who 
went, and to be, for the time, in the place of a 
Pastor. Those who remained promised to fol- 
low as soon as an opportunity occurred. 

While preparations were being made for their 
departure, and all were feeling annoyed by the 
continued quarrels of the Yirginia Company, 
and the delay thus occasioned, some Dutch 
merchants increased their perplexity by a gen- 
erous and apparently sincere ofi'er. They prom- 
ised to transport them freely to the Hudson 
Eiver, and to furnish every family with cattle, 
if they would go under them. But God had 
appointed them a habitation in another place, 
and his eye was upon them to guide them 
thither. 



86 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Rock. 



CHAPTER YI. 

A FINAL ADIEU TO THE FATHEELAND. 

So great had been the perplexities of the pil- 
grims in getting encouragement from the En- 
glish in their great enterprise that, after more 
than two years' application to them, and the 
loss of time and money, they thought seriously 
of turning for help to the offer of the Dutch. 
As late as February, 1620, they gave the Dutch 
merchants the conditions on which they would 
go under them to New Amsterdam. This was 
the region about what is now JSTew York city. 
The merchants sent in a petition to their gov- 
ernment for power to comply with the terms 
stated by Mr. Robinson in behalf of his flock. 
So near did they seem to come to a future 
history wholly different from that which they 
now have. 

Just at this critical time there came to Ley den 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 87 

a wealthy, enterprising merchant from London. 
His name was Thomas Weston. It will be 
well to remember him, for we shall meet him 
again under very different circumstances. He 
addressed Eobinson and his friends with fair 
words and flattering promises. He told them 
that they need not depend npon the Virginia 
Company ; if they failed, he and some friends 
whom he could command would unite their 
means with those of the pilgrims, and they could 
thus be well started ; as to the Dutch, he 
recommended them to have nothing more to 
do with them in the business. 

To Mr. Weston the Leyden Company list- 
ened, and broke off at once their business rela- 
tions with the Dutch. Articles of agreement 
were drawn up and signed by the pilgrims, and 
Kobert Cushman and Deacon Carver were sent 
with them to the parties in England to receive 
money and to purchase supplies for the voyage. 
They were strictly charged to agree to no con- 
ditions except those which had been given them 

in writing. Persons were appointed to make 

6 



88 YiEws FROM Plymouth Kook. 

tlie necessary preparations in Leyden, and such 
of the pilgrims among those who were going as 
had property sold it, and put the money into the 
common stock. Those who had cash on hand 
put that in at once. So all was ventured upon 
the good management and prompt execution 
of the enterprise. To seek a home in the 'New 
"World they made themselves, for the time, 
homeless in Holland. 

While thus situated almost crushing difficul- 
ties arose in England. A company of influ- 
ential men were seeking of the King a charter 
which should give them control of the northern 
portion of the second Yirginia Company's ter- 
ritory under the name of New England. Some 
of the merchants who were to help the pilgrims 
withdrew because they did not unite with this 
company; others would do nothing without 
they went to Guiana. Some would not adven- 
ture their money except they went to Yirginia, 
while others would do nothing if they did go 
there. In the confusion, some of those in 
England who were to go with them retired 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 89 

from the enterprise. To render the whole busi- 
ness still more distracted, Mr. Cusliman, with 
the assentj or at least, it would seem, without the 
opposition of Deacon Carver, allowed the mer- 
chants to add two very hard conditions to the 
written agreement which was given them at 
Leyden. By the new terms the pilgrims were 
to give the labor of six days in the week to the 
Company, instead of having two for their per- 
sonal benefit as at first proposed ; and. second- 
ly, at the end of seven years, the time for which 
the compact was to continue, the houses mid 
gardens^ that is, the homes of the colonists, were 
to belong to the Company, and to • be divided 
like any other property. 

The other difficulties were serious enough, 
but this was the greatest of all, because it 
divided for the time the pilgrim company 
themselves, and was the occasion of severe 
complaints. Mr. Cushman defended his course 
by saying that the merchants, including Mr. 
Weston, would do nothing unless these terms 
were agreed to ; and that as the business needed 



90 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 

haste, he could not wait to consult his Leyden 
brethren. They replied that he was strictly 
charged neither to add to nor take from the 
conditions any thing whatever, and that the 
new articles were oppressive and would not be 
submitted to. Mr. Cushman was indeed in an 
unpleasant position. The persons in England 
who proposed to join the Leyden brethren when 
they arrived had chosen a Mr. Martin to act 
with Carver in pm-chasing provisions in South- 
ampton, while Cushman was getting together 
in London the other articles of the outfit. 
Martin, Cushman alleged, did not consult the 
other agents, and gave no account of the money 
with which he was intrusted ; and, when spoken 
to about it, was saucy and resentful. 

" At length, after much travail and these de- 
bates, all things were got ready and provided." 
The Speedwell, a small vessel of sixty tons, was 
purchased in Holland. The vessel was to be 
used in transporting the colonists, and retained 
by them when they reached America for the 
purposes of fishing and trade. Another, the 



YiE\\^s FKOM Plymouth Eock. 91 

Mayflower, of one hundred and eiglitj tons, 
was hired in London. When they were near 
the time of departure a day of fasting and 
prayer was appointed. Mr. Kobinson preached 
'from Ezra viii, 21. After the pastor's words of 
instruction and comfort were spoken fervent 
prayers were offered, and many tears were shed. 
Those who were to remain behind, being about 
half of the whole Church, provided at their 
pastor's house, which was large, a feast for those 
who were going. There was, on the occasion, 
singing by the whole company, making, as one 
of the number declared, " the sweetest melody" 
that ever his ears heard. The melody was, no 
doubt, of the heart. The pilgrims, accom- 
panied from the city by most of their brethren, 
left Leyden on the 21st of July, 1620, and took 
the canal boat for Delft Haven, on the Maese, 
a distance of fourteen miles. They must have 
looked upon the green meadows and quiet 
hamlets, which they were beholding for the last 
time, with deep emotion ; and as Leyden, and 
then Delft, through which they passed, faded 



9^ YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock, 

from their siglit, tliey must have felt indeed 
that they had on earth no continuing city. 
They entered the Speedwell, which waited for 
them at Delft Haven. Here the Ley den 
friends, and those who had come from Amster- 
dam to see them embark, bade them a final 
farewell. Bradford describes the parting scene 
in the following beautiful words : 

" That night was spent with little sleep by 
the most, but with friendly entertainment and 
Christian discourse, and other real expressions 
of true Christian love. The next day, the wind 
being fair, they went aboard, and their friends 
with them, where truly doleful was the sight of 
that sad and mournful parting; to see what 
sighs and sobs and prayers did sound among 
them, what tears did gush from every eye, and 
pithy speeches pierce each heart ; that sundry 
of the Dutch strangers who stood on the quay 
as spectators could not refrain from tears. Yet 
comfortable and sweet it v/as to see such lively 
and true expressions of dear and unfeigned love. 
But the tide, which stays for no man, calling 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kook. 93 

them away wlio were thus loath to depart, their 
reverend pastor falling down on his knees, (and 
they all with him,) with watery cheeks, com- 
mended them with most fervent prayer to God 
and his blessing. And then, with mutual em- 
braces and many tears, they took leave one of 
another." 

Winslow, writing of the same interesting 
occasion, says they were feasted again at Delft 
Haven, and that after they were all on board 
they gave their frionds on shore " a volley of 
small shot and three pieces of ordnance, and 
so lifted up our hands to each other, and our 
hearts for each other to the Lord our God, and 
departed." 

Thus bidding adieu to loved friends and the 
long-chosen land of refuge from persecution, 
they bore av/ay to sea, and were soon in the 
harbor of Southampton. 

Here they found the Mayflower in waiting 
with the rest of their company, from whom 
they received " a joyful welcome." The dis- 
agreement about the conditions with the mer- 



94 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

chants was immediately discussed with their 
agent. While this was going on Mr. Weston 
came from London to see them embark, and 
to get them to confirm the altered conditions. 
This they squarely refused to do ; and the vexed 
merchant returned to London, saying, as they 
parted, that they might "stand on their own 
legs" for further money. This gave them a 
fresh trouble. They needed a sum equal to 
five hundred dollars of our currency before 
they would liave enough to start. To raise 
this they sold provisions which had been put on 
board the Mayflower to that amount. This em- 
barrassment being thus removed, they were 
comforted and strengthened by a paternal let- 
ter from their pastor, Mr. Robinson. He re- 
assured them that he was with them in affection, 
and made many suggestions in reference to their 
future course. He reminded them that, first of 
all, they needed and must seek by continual 
repentance and faith the daily assurance of 
acceptance with God, adding, that " sin being 
taken away by earnest repentance, and the par- 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 95 

don thereof from the Lord sealed unto a man's 
conscience by the Spirit, great shall be his 
security in all dangers, sweet his comforts in 
all distresses, with happy deliverance from all 
evil, whether in life or in death." 

He urged them to seek, next to peace with 
God, peace with all men, especially among 
themselves, neither taking nor giving offense. 

He exhorted them to cultivate mutual affec- 
tion while engaged in labor for the common 
good. And, lastly, he told them that, when 
established as a colony, they must not only/ 
seek to elevate to office their wisest and best 
men, but yield unto such " all due honor and 
obedience." 

This letter was read to the whole assembled 
company, "to good acceptance with all and 
after fruit with many." 

Thus did the pastor's voice seem still sound- 
ing in their ears across the sea in words of 
loving counsel. Could he have said more fit- 
ting words if he had known that to more than 
half of them they were his last words? 



96 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 



CHAPTEK YII. 

THE PILGRIMS AFLOAT. 

Having received tlieir pastor's letter, and read 
its words of wisdom, they were now ready with 
strong faith and noble purposes to leave their 
fatherland forever. Their arrangements for 
comfort and safety on the voyage seem to 
have extended to the least particular, so far as 
the circumstances allowed. The company was 
divided between the two vessels according to 
the judgment of their leaders. A governor and 
two assistants were chosen for each vessel, 
whose duty it was to take the oversight of the 
people by the way, and ''see to the disposing 
of the provisions and such like affairs." 

Their arrangements being completed, they 
set sail from Southampton the fifteenth of 
August, 1620. They numbered, with the ad- 
ditions from London, about one hundred and 



Views feom Plymouth Rock. 97 

twenty. They had sailed but a short distance 
when the cajptain of the Speedwell raised the 
cry that his vessel was leaking badly, and that 
he could not proceed. Both vessels therefore 
put back to Dartmouth, where she was searched, 
repaired, and pronounced sea-worthy by the ship- 
carpenters. Again the pilgrims are steering 
toward the 'New World, and have entered the 
wide ocean, and made some three hundred 
miles from the shore, when the captain of the 
Speedwell again raises an alarm concerning his 
vessel. He declares she will go to the bottom 
ere the voyage is completed ; signals are given 
to the Mayflower, and the whole disappointed 
company soon find themselves ashore at Plym- 
outh, a port two hundred and fifty miles nearer 
than their last starting-point. 

A further examination failed to discover the 
grounds of the captain's fears. It was after- 
ward ascertained that he was dealing falsely 
with them ; that, having engaged to remain in 
American waters for two years and fisli for the 
company, he had become dissatisfied with his 



98 YoiCE FROM Plymouth Eock. 

engagement through nnworthy jealousies and 
fears ; and that his complaints of the Speedwell, 
which afterward made many successful voy- 
ages, were mere excuses. Surely these pil- 
grims had a bitter experience with the ship- 
masters. 

The Speedwell being abandoned, a part of 
the company, embracing some of its wheat but 
more of its chaff, returned to London ; and the 
rest, one hundred and two in number, were 
packed with their goods into the Mayflower. 
Her size, one hundred and eighty tons, was 
about that of a " coaster " of the present time, 
in tlie waters to which they were going ; but in 
tlie means of comfort and safety far inferior. 
She was built more "above decks" than the 
trim " clippers " which cross the ocean in our 
days, and was thus exposed to the winds like 
an overtopped tree. 

On the 16th of September, after another sad 
but still hopeful fiircwell, the Mayflower, Mr. 
Jones master, took her final leave of Plymouth. 

She sailed halfway over tlie ocean with fair 



YiEws FKOM Plymouth Book. 99 




breezes, and no unfavorable circumstances oc- 
curring except those which belonged to their 
crowded condition and the iDcvitable sea-sick- 
ness. Their known habits of devotion are a 
sufficient proof that these prosperous days of 
their voyage were improved by meetings for 
prayer and thanksgiving. Elder Bi'ewster 
would be sure to remember each Sabbath by 
leading his' flock in special religious service. 

But now commences a season of cross winds 
and fierce storms. The trial of their faith 



100 YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 

must be measured by the greatness and glory 
of the results which are to be secured by them. 
The ship groaned and strained in the heavy 
sea, and her upper works began to leak ; "one 
of the main beams of the mid-ships was bowed 
and cracked;" the confidence of the mariners 
in her ability to perform the rest of the voyage 
failed, and they took counsel with the chief 
pilgrims " whether to return or hold on." The 
result was a determination to proceed ; and 
immediately energetic efforts were made to put 
the vessel in better sailing order. In looking 
round for the means to do this they ascertained 
that a passenger from Holland had brought a 
large iron screw. How plainly the hand of 
God appeared for their safety in wdiat might 
seem small matters. This screw had no ap- 
parent place in the outfit of a passenger on 
such a voyage ; but now it proved a friend in- 
deed. By means of it the dislocated main- 
beam was forced into its position, and other 
supports given to the laboring bark. Thus 
strengthened they looked only toward the 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 101 

American coast, tlioiigh often encoimtering a 
boisterous storm in which they were obliged to 
lie to until its fmy was spent, which detained 
them " many days together." 

Of the incidents of the voyage a few only 
have been recorded. The following must have 
made a deep impression upon the minds of the 
whole company. There was a young man 
among the sailors who was remarkable for a 
stout strong body, and a wicked heart. He 
treated the pilgrims, both old and young, with 
uniform contempt. In their sickness "he cursed 
and execrated them," telling them that he hoped 
to help cast half of them overboard before the 
voyage was ended; and added, "I shall then 
make merry with what you leave." He replied 
to the gentle chidings of the good men ''by 
cursing the more bitterly." But, since he 
would not listen to man, God spoke to him, 
and he both heard and obeyed his summons. 
Before half the voyage was completed " he was 
smitten by a grievous disease," and died in great 
affony, " and was himself the first to be thrown 



102 YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 

overboard," " to the astonishment of all his fel- 
lows," to whom it appeared, as it truly was, 
^' by the just hand of God." 

We can easily picture to ourselves the pil- 
grim company assembled on deck on the occa- 
sion of committing his remains to the sea ; and 
Elder Brewster bowed in prayer, and tenderly 
imploring the blessing of God to attend this 
solemn judgment to the increase of his fear and 
love in every heart. 

On one occasion a young man of their own 
number, coming on deck while the vessel lay to 
in a violent storm, was by its sudden lurch 
thrown into the sea. With great presence of 
mind and manly energy he caught the topsail 
halliards, which hung overboard, and clung to 
them "though fathoms under water." He was 
drawn by them to the surface, and then by 
boat-hooks brought safely to the deck. He 
lived many years a useful member of the col- 
ony, and must have often with gratitude re- 
peated the story to his children's children. 

Only one member of the pilgrim company 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 103 

died during the. voyage ; his name was William 
Butten, a youth in the family of Dr. Fuller. 
And one little birdling came during the pas- 
sage to the ocean nest of Mr. and Mrs. Hop- 
kins, whom they appropriately named Oceanus. 
Thus the number with which they started was 
made good. 

On Thursday morning, ]N"ovember 19, land 
was seen from the deck of the Mayflower. It 
proved to be Cape Cod, then well covered with 
a variety of trees, extending nearly to the 
water's edge, and presenting to the eyes of the 
voyagers, so long wearied with the monotonous 
ocean, a cheerful aspect. The prow of the ship 
was turned in a south-easterly direction, as they 
purposed to make the mouth of Hudson's Eiver. 
"But after they had sailed that course about 
half the day they fell among dangerous shoals 
and. roaring breakers, and they were so far 
entangled therewith that they conceived them- 
selves in great danger ; and the wind shrieking 
upon them Vv^ithal, they resolved to bear up 

again for the Cape, and tliought themselves 

V 



\ 



104 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

happy to get out of those dangers before night 
overtook them, as by God's providence they did." 

Having thus escaped the shoals (since washed 
away) off what is now Eastham and Orleans, 
and rounded the head of the Cape, they came 
to anchor on Saturday, ISTovember 21, 1620, in 
Provincetown harbor. We say Provincetown 
harbor^ because it is easier to designate the 
places as they are now named, reminding the 
reader that, of course, they were unnamed 
then. 

True to their habit of seeing God in all their 
escapes from danger, they, first of all, " fell on 
their knees and blessed the God of heaven," 
and implored the continuance of his favor in 
their future course. Sixty-five days they had 
been in their crowded little craft, in storms and 
rough seas; no wonder, then, that the sight of 
land, though it was to them yet a strange. and. 
homeless land, made them truly joyful. 

It was now Saturday morning. They were 
not where they expected to be, nor within that 
region in which King James had given them, 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 105 

by his charter, the right to exercise the author- 
ity of a colony in making and enforcing laws. 
Already some of their company — belonging not 
to the pilgrims from Ley den, but to the stran- 
gers from London — were boasting that they 
would take advantage of this fact when they 
were settled on shore, and have a general good 
time in doing as they pleased. But their chief 
men were too wise for them. They wrote a 
solemn agreement by which a government 
among themselves might be formed. It an- 
swered pretty well to a modern state constitu- 
tion. By this they were to agree that " all the 
laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices " 
which should be made from time to time by the 
majority should be binding upon the whole, and 
that to them they would yield " due submission 
and obedience." This covenant, drawn up " in 
the name of God," was signed " in the presence 
of God and one another" by forty-one men. 
The heads of families represented those under 
them, generally including even the men-servants. 
So these forty-one embraced the governing 



106 Views fkom Plymouth Rock, 

power of the whole pilgrim company; and a 
power well able to govern they proved to the 
great good of the whole, and the grief of the 
lawless. This little band of leading minds in 
the cabin of the Mayflower thus set in operation 
the elements of those peculiar forms of govern- 
ment under which we now live, and by which 
we are " a free and independent people." 

John Carver — then Deacon Carver — was 
chosen their first governor. We should have 
guessed that William Brewster would have had 
this honor, being the most experienced in state 
affairs, and probably the most learned of the 
whole company. But, though only an elder, 
he served there as a Gospel minister, and so 
could not be spared for such worldly business. 

We may now follow this little State in its 
search after a resting-place, from which it shall 
extend and become mighty, until nations shaB 
sit quietly under its shadow. 



Views from Plymouth Eock, 107 



CHAPTER YIII. 

THE MAYFLOWER AT ANCHOR. 

The same day in which their Constitution was 
signed, sixteen men, under the leadership of 
Captain Standish, went ashore. They landed 
in a sheltered part of the harbor, and looked 
about them very cautiously. They were armed, 
and ready for friend or foe. They were the 
first of their company who set foot on Ameri- 
can soil. Eighteen years before, Gosnold, the 
discoverer of Cape Cod, had made the same 
shores a hurried visit. They spent most of the 
day upon the land, and probably traveled 
across the west end of Provincetown until they 
saw the Atlantic upon the other shore. They 
found no inhabitants, nor signs of human 
habitations. They returned at night, weary no 
doubt, but with no evil report of the country. 
Thev saw various kinds of trees, anions^ which 



108 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

was the fragrant red cedar, which still lingers 
along the E'ew England sea-coast. They dis- 
covered sand-hills somewhat like those they 
had seen in Holland; and they declared that 
the crust of the soil was formed of an excellent 
black earth of a spade's depth. The Cape Cod 
people do not find much of such soil now. The 
explorers carried to the ship's company a boat 
load of the cedar for fuel, of which they were 
much in want. This kind of wood they used 
while staying there, and they were delighted 
with its " strong and very sweet smell." 

The next day was the Sabbath. During its 
sacred hours no oar dipped the water nor foot 
pressed the shore. It was their first Sabbath in 
America, and it is not unlikely that it was the 
first time that this holy day had been kept upon 
its coast, or the sound of Sabbath worship wafted 
over its waters. Had the " poor Indian " been 
near enough to listen, even he could not have 
mistaken it for the voice of an enemy sending a 
challenge for a deadly conflict. When the sun 
went down on tliat holy eve the Mayflower 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 109 

band spoke of the future with quickened faith 
and hope. 

Monday morning came, and with it a more 
studied view of their situation, and a closer 
examination of the work to be done. The 
shore of the bay in which they are anchored 
bends round them in a sickle shape, the sharp 
end of which is now called Long Point. They 
all gladly escape from their two months' im- 
prisonment to the solid land, to reach which 
they have to wade three fourths of a mile 
through the shallow water over the sand 
flats. This sad experience in landing brought 
to them colds and coughs, the tokens of more 
serious complaints. The women immediately 
engage in washing, " of which they have 
much need." There seems to be good evi- 
dence that they found a large fresh water 
pond near the shore; a pond which in the 
changes of two hundred and fifty years has 
entirely disappeared. It was not sweet and 
pure water for drinking, but answered for the 
much-needed washings. But what unpleasant 



110 Views fkom Plymouth Eock. 

out-door washing days they must have been, 
late in November, on the 'New England coast ! 
Their only relief, we may imagine, was a 
rousing^ fire of the sweet-scented sassafras 
and cedar, of which they fomid an abun- 
dance. 

While the women were thus engaged a num- 
ber of the men got out their " shallop," the 
large sailing boat which had been taken to 
pieces and stowed away between decks. It 
had met with hard usage on the voyage. Be- 
sides being bruised by the pitching of the May- 
flower, it had been occupied by some of the 
passengers as a lodging-place. It was carried 
ashore, where, in a clean place upon the sand, 
or under the shelter of some trees growing 
down to the water's edge, the carpenters worked 
upon it for sixteen days. While this was being 
done the chief pilgrims were studying their situ- 
ation, and providing for the future. One of 
them has left a record of the appearance of 
their surroundings. He says of the bay : " It 
is a good harbor and ]>leasant bay, circled 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. Ill 

round, except in the entrance, which is about 
four miles over from land to land." 

From the light-honse now on Long Point, in 
a straight line to a point on the Truro shore, a 
little north of the mouth of the Pamet River, 
would be just about four miles. It was such a 
line of observation that the writer took. He 
says further of the bay thus formed : '* It is 
compassed about to the very sea with oaks, 
pines, juniper, (cedar,) sassafras, and other 
sweet woods ; it is a harbor wherein a thousand 
sail of ships may safely ride." 

This was a good judgment for a stranger of 
the situation; for a later historian says of the 
same bay : " The harbor is sufficiently capa- 
cious for three thousand vessels, and is a haven 
of the greatest importance to navigation, whether 
as respects vessels doing business in the neigh- 
boring waters, or ships from foreign voyages ar- 
riving on the coast in thick and stormy weather." 

But there were sights from the deck of the 
Mayflower not greeting the eyes of those seek- 
ing a shelter at the present time in Province- 



112 YiEws FEOM Plymouth Kock. 

town Bay. Every day they saw whales play- 
ing liard by them, one of which lingered at his 
ease near the vessel, seeming to desire an ac- 
quaintance with the strangers. It was a great 
grief to them that they were not furnished with 
the means of taking them. Captain Jones and 
his mate, and some others, were experienced in 
whaling ; and they declared that, with the prop- 
er outfit, they could have taken from fifteen 
thousand to twenty thousand dollars' worth of 
oil. 'No wonder these sailors resolved on the 
spot to come back the next winter and fish for 
whales, a resolution which we think they did 
not carry out. 

Perhaps a pleasanter fact to the pilgrims 
than the presence of the whales was " the 
greatest store of fowl that ever they saw." 
These could be made available for their future 
subsistence in case of necessity, or even as a 
luxury upon their tables. 

They threw out their lines for cod, but 
caught none. They fished too near the shore, 
and it was rather early in the season for that 



Views feom Plymouth Rock. 113 

kind of fisli. They caught smaller iisli during 
their staj, which must have been a great luxury 
after the hard salt fare of tlieir long voyage. 
They found various kinds of shell-fish, among 
which were " great mussels, very fat and full 
of sea pearls;" but they did not find any of 
them agreeable nor wholesome as food. 

While the Mayflower was thus waiting for 
the shallop, some of the niore enterprising of 
the company became impatient of delay. They 
desired to make immediate explorations of the 
surrounding country, and to find, if possible, a 
suitable place of settlement. A council was 
held in reference to their proposal, and it was 
thought dangerous, not having a boat, nor means 
to carry their provisions, except on their backs ; 
yet the seal of these few was approved. Final- 
ly a reluctant consent was given for the experi- 
ment to be tried. With many " cautions, direc- 
tions, and instructions," sixteen men were sent 
forth under the guidance of Captain Stan dish. / 
Each man had his musket, sword, and corslet. 
The corslet was a piece of defensive armor 



\ 



114 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

covering the breast from the neck to the girdle. 
It must have been very nncomfortable in walk- 
ing, especially through a pathless and partly 
wooded country. Their swords were great 
clumsy weapons, and we must not think of 
their guns in connection with the " Shai-p " and 
'' Spencer " rifles of the present day. The guns 
of this exploring party were match-locks, except, 
as we shall see, that of Captain Standish, who 
had one of the newly-invented flint locks. 
Think of a soldier waiting, after he gets sight 
of the enemy, to touch his gun ofl" with a match ! 
But the methods of killing men have improved 
since the pilgrim days. 

Captain Standish and his company were set 
ashore on Wednesday morning, l^ovember 25, 
having assigned to him, as a kind of staff " for 
counsel and advice," William Bradford, Stephen 
Hopkins, and Edward Tilley. They marched 
in single file near the sea for about a mile, 
when they saw five or six Indians coming 
toward them with a dog. As soon as the 
savages saw the explorers they ]^hir.->:ed into 



Views feom Plymouth Kock. 115 

the woods, whistling their dog after them. The 
white men followed, and the Indians became 
frightened, and ran off with '' might and main " 
in the direction their pursuers intended to go. 
The light-footed men of the forest were soon 
out of sight ; but tlie pilgrims, in their cumber- 
some armor, and with their heavy guns, fol- 
lowed their foot-tracks, noticing that they went 
the way they had come, and that they had run 
up a hill, around which their path lay, to see if 
they were pursued. This hill seems to have 
been " J^egro Head," near the Atlantic shore 
of Provincetown. The pilgrims kept on the 
Indian trail until night set in, and thought 
they had traveled in pursuit about ten miles. 
Measured by the depth of the sand, the ob- 
structions of the underbrush in many places, 
the weight of their armor, and their consequent 
weariness, it might have seemed ten miles, 
when in fact they had not gone much over half 
of that distance. At any rate they were glad 
to encamp, on finding an inviting place near 
the head of East Harbor Creek. Here, setting 



116 YiEWs FROM Plymouth Rock. 

three sentinels and building a fire, they passed 
the night, probably their first on the American 
land. 

In the morning, as soon as they could see, 
they took the trail again, which led them round 
the head of the creek, nearly to the beach on 
the east side of the Cape, on the margin of 
which it ran a short distance, and then turned 
southwest into the woods among the bushes and 
drooping boughs, which made sad work with 
their clothes and armor. But they found no 
Indians, nor signs of their habitations. At a 
later period they would have been " ambushed " 
and killed in following the Indians into such a 
thicket. I^othing worse now happened to them 
than great hunger and thirst and excessive 
weariness. They had brought no food, only 
biscuit, probably hard and dry, and Holland 
cheese. They had no water, and could find 
none. They had a small bottle of " aqua 
vitae," a drink then made "of brewed beer 
strongly hopped ;" a vile compound, no doubt. 
We are not surprised, therefore, that one of them 



YiEws FROM Plym6uth Rock. 117 

said. " We were sore atliirst ! " About ten 
the trail led them through a valley among 
bushes of various kinds, when they espied a 
deer, and soon after found springs of pure 
water, of which they said: "We were heartily 
glad, and sat us down and drank our first 
New England water with as much delight as 
we ever drank drink in our lives." 

Having refreshed themselves they went south 
awhile, and reached the shore of the bay at a 
point from which they could see the Mayflower 
as she lay east of them at her anchorage near 
Long Point, about four miles distant. They 
built a fire, which was the signal by which 
their friends understood that all was well. 
From this place they walked a little inward 
from the shore, toward the mouth of the river 
which had attracted tlie attention of all on 
board the Mayflower on their first coming into 
the bay. It is now known as Pamet River, in 
Truro. On their way they came to a pond of 
beautifnl appearance, its shores lined with vines, 
about which were deer and numerous water 



118 Views fkom Plymouth Eock. 

fowls — the little lake which gives name at this 
time to " Pond Yillage." 

Being tired of the grass and bushes of the 
upland, they tried for awhile the sand of the 
beacii. Those who have endeavored to walk 
in the Cape Cod sand will not be surprised to 
hear the pilgrims say : " By this means some 
of our men were tired and lagged behind, so we 
stayed and gathered them up, and struck into 
the land again." 

As they proceeded they found small heaps of 
sand. On one were mats, a kind of mortar of 
wood, and an earthen pot. Digging a little 
they found a bow and arrows. Ascertaining 
that they were graves, they put every thing 
that they had touched carefully back into its 
place, and left the rest untouched, because they 
thought it would be " odious unto the Indians 
to ransack their sepulchers." 

Their path now became deeply interesting to 
them. They began to find open fields which 
had been recently planted. Strawberry and 
grape vines were plenty, and the walnut-trees 



YiEWs FEOM Plymouth Kock. 119 

were still laden witli fruit. While thus nar- 
rowly observing every thing, and expecting to 
see Indian wigwams, they were surprised at 
finding the remains of a rude European hut. 
A few planks were piled together, and a great 
kettle lay near them. A few years before a 
French ship had been cast away near this place, 
the sailors escaping and living for a time here. 
Our explorers next found what was of much 
more consequence to them. They discovered, 
under a heap of sand, baskets of corn, " a very 
goodly sight." One of the baskets " was very 
beautifully and cunningly made," round, and 
small at the top. It held four bushels, and was 
as much as two men could lift from the ground. 
Some of the corn which was found in the ears 
was yellow, some red, and some mixed with 
blue. While two or three were digging up the 
corn the rest stood guard in every direction. 
Having uncovered enough, they were in much 
suspense to know what to do with it." After a 
long consultation they concluded to take the 
kettle and as much of the corn as they could 



120 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 

carry; and, when the shallop was repaired, 
come here and, if possible, find the owner's, 
and satisfy them for it. So they '' put a good 
deal of the loose corn in the kettle, for two men 
to bring away on a stafi"." All who had pockets 
unoccupied filled them, and the rest was buried 
again. 

This Indian corn was peculiar to tiie 'New 
World, but found from Canada to Patagonia. 
The Haytians called it maize^ which became 
quite a general name; but the Massachusetts 
Indians had a name which was not likely to 
become common ; it was eacliiinmineasli ! 
Think of an Indian child calling for more 
" eachimmineash ! " We think that after the 
English came they soon learned to say corn. 

Having found an old fort, the work no doubt 
of the shipwrecked sailors, and having examined 
the mouth of Pamet Piver, where they saw two 
canoes, the party began to return ; " for," they 
say, " we had commandment to be out but two 
days." 

Their second night was spent near the beau- 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 121 

tifal lake of " Pond Yillage." Before they lay 
down they built a kind of fort of logs both for 
shelter and defense, kindled a fire, and set their 
watch. Bradford, one of their leaders after- 
ward in all that was good, was there, and, 
we doubt not, he now led in their evening 
devotions. 

It was a very rainy night, and they must 
have risen, poorly fitted for the renewal of 
their tramp. They relieved themselves in a 
measure by sinking their kettle in the pond. 
Their gun-locks were wet, so that they had to be 
" trimmed " before sllrting. To add to their 
labor they lost their way, and wandered about 
for awhile in the woods and among the bushes 
much at random. While thus bewildered they 
came upon an Indian deer-trap. It was, they 
said, " a very pretty device,'' made with a strong 
rope and a cunning noose, both of which sur- 
prised them by their evidence of skill. Stephen 
Hopkins warned the first who approached it by 
telling them it was to catch deer, and might 
catch them ; but Bradford, coming up from the 



122 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

rear with a hasty curiosity, put his foot into it, 
and it gave a sudden jerk and caught him by 
the leg. 'No harm was done, and Bradford 
no doubt took in good part the laugh of the 
company. 

Soon after they saw three deer, and dryly 
remarked, " We should rather have had one. 
than to have seen three." So these sober men 
could enjoy an innocent joke as well as indulge 
in wholesome laughter. They were not the 
sour men some people think they were. Real 
good men are never sour. ISTothing of further 
note occurred on their ieturn. They came to 
the shore nearest to the ship, "shot off their 
pieces," and the long-boat came and took them 
on board. Thus on Friday evening they came 
back " both weary and welcome home." 



YiEws FKOM Plymouth Rock. 123 



CHAPTEE IX. 

"SEARCHING FOR A HABITATION." 

The explorers found that their companions 
had not been idle during their absence. While 
the carpenters had wrought on the shallop some 
were sawing out timber for a new boat, and 
others- busied themselves by sharpening their 
tools or putting new handles to them. Satur- 
day was spent in these continued labors, all of 
which were much hindered by the loss of time 
arising from the long and cold wadings through 
the shallow water in going from the long-boat 
to the shore. 

The next day, December 6, was the second 
Sabbath in these waters. They all returned, 
no doubt, to the Mayflower, to seek in its 
dreary hold and cabin new strength from songs 
and prayer, and from the discourse of Elder 
Brewster. 



124 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 




Such was their urgent need to find some place 
of settlement that the shallop was launched on 
Monday of the week following, although, as it 
proved, she was not quite repaired. Twenty- 
four of the pilgrim company were chosen to 
make the first voyage of discovery in her. 
Captain Jones offered his services, with ten of 
his sailors. Wishing to show their apprecia- 
tion of his forwardness, they chose him leader 
of the expedition. This company of thirty-four 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 125 

started in the long-boat and shallop for Pairiet 
River, which had been reached by the land ex- 
plorers. They hoped it would prove a fine 
fresh water stream, affording a good place for 
settlement. But every movement of these de- 
termined men was beset with difficulties. The 
wind increased to a sailor's "stiff" breeze," ac- 
companied witli snow. They could only make 
the nearest land across Provincetown Harbor, 
and rounding Beach Point entered East Harbor. 
Here they landed, wading as usual to the shore, 
and walked about five miles that day in their 
frozen_clothes. They made a fire and encamped 
at night ; but a dreary, uncomfortable night it 
must have been. In the morning the shallop, 
which had gone back to the ship, returned for 
them, taking them in and landing them at the 
mouth of Pamet Piver, which they named Cold 
Harbor, a name very naturally suggested by 
their recent experience. The land party took 
the shore betwe'en the two branches, the shallop 
following up the larger one. Up and down 
the sand hills and through the valleys, wading 



126 YiEWS-FROM Plymouth Rock. 

in crusted snow for five miles, tliey pressed 
forward, until they sunk down in slieer ex- 
haustion. Captain Jones was, however, the 
first to complain, and insist upon encamping. 
His heart was evidently but little engaged in 
this excursion. They built their camp fires 
under a few pine-trees; and, "as it fell out," 
they obtained three fat geese and six ducks for 
their supper, which they ate "with soldier's 
relish," as they had eaten but little all that day. 
In the morning they held a consultation con- 
cerning the best course to take. Some were 
for pressing further up stream, which -would 
soon have brought them to the Atlantic side of 
the Cape. Others, not liking the sand hills and 
general appearance of the region, were for leav- 
ing that branch of the river, which they finally 
decided to do. Crossing over the north branch 
they came upon the deposit of corn made in their 
former expedition, and named the place Corn- 
hill. By turning up the crusted snow with 
their cutlasses and short swords they found 
other deposits, including beans, one of the prod- 



YiEws FEOM Plymouth Eock. 127 

ucts of Indian farming. They took about ten 
bushels of the shelled corn, besides some good 
specimens, upon the ears, of the various colors, 
and a quantity of beans, in all enough, with 
that obtained before, for the spring planting. 
They rejoiced greatly at this timely supply, and 
at the divine guiding which had directed the 
land party here before the snow had fallen, 
which now hid every mark of the deposits. 
In view of this hand of God they devoutly ex- 
claimed, " The Lord is never wanting unto his 
in their greatest needs ; let his holy name have 
all the praise." 

Night coming on, the irresolute Captain 
Jones again clamored to return. They had 
made a poor exchange of leaders in getting the 
seaman Jones for the soldier Standish ! But 
they made the best of it by letting him return 
with the sick and over- exhausted ones, sixteen 
in number, while eighteen remained to push 
forward further observations. 

Going first toward what is now Highland 
Light, they returned to the bay side and 



128 YiEWs FROM Plymouth Kock. 

lighted upon the place of graves of their 
earlier visit. They were impressed with the 
appearance of one of the mounds, which, on 
opening, proved to be the burial place, as they 
thought, of some of the shipwrecked sailors. 
They found upon it a board painted and carved 
with seamen's devices ; also bowls, trays, dishes, 
old canvass, parts of sailors' clothes, and a fine 
red powder, which they supposed to be the 
Indians' embalming powder. There were also 
the remains of human bodies. All was re- 
placed, and pains taken to impress the Indians 
that the new comers were not robbers of graves. 
While these investigations were being made 
the shallop returned, and the sailors ranging 
the vicinity found two Indian huts. They very 
cautiously entered them, but found no one. 
They then informed others of the explorers, 
eight of whom searched the vicinity with guns 
and lighted matches, thinking to find an Indian 
village, but without success. These huts, with 
their surroundings and contents, they thus de- 
scribe : 



YiEWs FKOM Plymouth Eock. 129 

" The bouses were made of long, young sap- 
ling trees bended, and both ends stuck into the 
ground. They were made round, like unto an 
arbor, and covered down to the ground with 
thick and well- wrought mats. The door was 
not over a yard high, made of a mat to open. 
The chimney was a wide open hole in the top, 
for which they had a mat to cover it close when 
they pleased. One might stand and go upright 
in them. In the midst were four little stakes 
knocked into the ground, and small sticks laid 
over on which they hung their pots and w^liat 
they had to boil. Round about the fire they 
lay on mats', which are their beds. The houses 
were double matted, for as they were matted 
without so were they within, wdth newer and 
fairer mats. In the houses we found wooden 
bowls, trays, an^ dishes, earthen pots, hand- 
baskets made of crab shells wrought together ; 
also an English pail without a handle ; baskets 
of sundry sorts, bigger and some lesser, finer 
and some coarser, and some wrought with black 
and white in pretty works. There were sun- 



130 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

dry other of their household stuff; also some 
two or three deers' heads, oue whereof had been 
newly killed. There was also a company of 
deers' feet stuck up in the houses, harts' horns, 
and eagles' claws. There were three baskets 
full of parched acorns, pieces of fish, and a 
piece of broiled herring. We found also a little 
silk grass, and a little tobacco seed, and some 
other seeds which we knew not. Without were 
sundry bundles of flags and sedge, bullrushes, 
and other stuff to make mats. There was 
thrust into a hollow tree two or three pieces of 
venison ; but we thought it fitter for the dogs 
than for us." 

As the tide was getting low and the night 
was drawing near they all went on board their 
shallop, taking some of the best things with 
them, but leaving the houses uninjured. They 
reached the Mayflower that night, and thus 
ended their "second discovery." The seed 
com and otlier things which they took from 
their unknown owners were taken because 
they believed their urgent necessities justified 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 131 

the act, feeling that their company would be 
saved from much suffering and perhaps from 
starvation by it. They declared that they pur- 
posed to return immediately to Cornhill, and 
leave beads and other things valuable to the 
Indians ; but the haste with which they were 
obliged to sail from Provincetown Bay pre- 
vented. How sincere they were in this pro- 
fessed desire to fully pay for what they had 
taken we shall see as we follow their history. 

While they were absent a little stranger 
came to the loving care of Mrs. Susanna, wife 
of William White, the first born of the English 
colonies of 'New England. They called his 
name Peregrine^ a traveler. The name was 
more significant of the character of the parents 
than of the son, for he seems to have become 
much less of a wanderer than most of his people ; 
and his descendants of the sixth and seventh 
generations live upon the soil made sacred by 
their fathers. But these pilgrims were fond of 
noticing the experience of the hour by the 
names given to their children. 



132 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 

Sad events followed this joyous one, for on 
the following week two of the company died, 
Edward Thomson, a servaut of William White, 
and Jasper More, a boy in Governor Carver's 
service. 

On the return of the shallop, and the re- 
ception of the report she brought of the region 
visited, a serious discussion arose among the 
Mayflower band. The question was, ^' Shall 
we settle on the river just visited, or make 
further explorations ? In favor of settling it 
was urged that it was a good harbor for hoats, 
at least; that corn ground was ready cleared 
for cultivation ; that Cape Cod afforded good 
flshilig facilities, both for whale and cod ; that 
the place was likely to be healthful, secure, and 
defensible ; but, last and most especially, that 
the winter was upon them, and they could not 
go on further voyages of discovery without 
great danger of wrecking their shallop, upon 
which so much depended, nor without much 
wading to the shore, and thus increasing the 
colds and coughs which were prevalent among 



Views fkom Plymouth Kock. 133 

them, threatening a general sickness. Besides 
all these reasons was another of some weight, 
arising from the fears that a longer delay might 
excite alarms in Captain Jones' mind about 
the supply of provisions for the return voyage 
of his ship. These were already getting low, 
especially those articles they wished to save for 
sickness, " and the great labor and toil they 
were like to undergo." As to the Captain, they 
seemed not to have had great confidence in him, 
and feared he might summarily eject them and 
leave the coast. Years afterward the story 
was believed in the Plymouth colony that he 
had been bribed by the Dutch not to carry 
them near their settlement on the Hudson, 
and for tliis reason had brought them thus far 
north. 

Thus the arguments stood for settling at 
once. On the other side it was said that Aga- 
wam^ now Ipswich, about sixty miles as they 
thought to the northwest, \j^as a much better 
place, they having heard about it from previous 
discoverers ; again, for any thing they knew, 



134 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

there might be hard by them a good locality, 
which would occasion a removal if they now 
settled ; that the water about Pamet River 
was but in ponds, and might be dry in summer; 
and that this water '' must be fetched up hill." 
To help this side of the question, their pilot, 
Coppin, told them there was "a great navigable 
river" right against their present anchorage, 
on the other side of the bay, twenty-five miles 
off. Coppin had been on the coast before. 
His suggestion that they try a voyage to that 
river seems to have decided the question. 
They resolved on a third exploring expedi- 
tion. 

Just before the expedition sailed they had a 
narrow escape from a sudden close of all their 
earthly plans. A boy by the name of Billing- 
ton took down a gun in his father's absence, 
as boys will, but as boys ought not. He shot 
it off in the cabin ; and getting at some loose 
powder, made sqijibs, having, as he no doubt 
thought, a good time. In the cabin was a 
little barrel of powder open, and some scat- 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 135 

tered about the floor, mixed up with fliuts 
and iron things, with many people about the 
fire between decks, four feet from the 
cabin. " Yet by God's mercy no harm was 
done." 



136 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE ROCK FOUND. 

The third expedition sailed on Wednesday, De- 
cember 16. It consisted of eighteen persons in 
all, among whom were Standish, who was chosen 
commander, and William Bradford, John Car- 
ver, Edward Winslow, and Clarke and Coppin, 
mates of the Mayflower. It was late in the 
afternoon before they started ; the weather was 
cold and the sea rough. It was a long time 
before they cleared Long Point, jnst inside of 
which, it will be recollected, their ship lay. 
During this time one of their number became 
faint with cold ; and another, the gunner, w^ho 
had insisted upon going from a desire to trade 
with the Indians, "became sick unto death." 
The spray, as it came over the sides of their boat, 
" froze on their clothes, and made them many 
times like coats of iron." 



Views fkom Plymouth Eock. 137 

They struck across to Truro, and sailed 
along under the shore, where the wmd and sea 
used them less roughly. Having sailed about 
eighteen miles from the Mayflower, but what 
seemed to them a much greater distance, they 
passed round a sandy point and entered a bay 
which was three miles across to the eastern 
shore, and from six to nine miles in length. 
This is now called Wellfleet Bay. As they 
drew near to the shore they saw some ten or 
twelve Indians busily engaged in cutting up 
some kind of fish, but what kind the pilgrims 
could not tell. The Indians ran away in great 
haste at the sight of the strangers. 

Having had the usual wading on the sand- 
flats in order to get ashore, the}^ threw up a 
breastwork, set their sentinels, built a fire, and 
attempted to rest. Truly brave and hardy 
they must have been to have rested under such 
circumstances. About them were the savages, 
the smoke of whose encampments they could 
see in the distance, and over them was the 
stormy sky of a I^ew England winter. There 



138 YiEws FROM Plymouth Rock. 

was a very different encampment many years 
afterward, almost upon this very spot. It was 
near the site of the well-known "Eastham 
camp-ground," where for about thirty years 
thousands of people resorted annually for a 
week of religious worship in the grove. The 
evening supplication of these lonely pilgrims, 
before they lay down upon their comfortless 
beds of broken branches of the cedar and sassa- 
fras trees, was in part answered in the abundant 
blessings of the later worshipers. Well, tlien, 
might the latter mingle more joyous shouts of 
praise with their prayers to the common Sav- 
iour of all ! 

In the morning they divided their company 
into two parties, eiglit in the shallop, who 
cruised about the bay, and twelve upon tlie 
laud, who searched carefully for the desired 
"place of a habitation." They found two small 
running streams of fresh water, the first they 
had seen. One of these streams now divides 
Eastham from Weilfleet, and is called Indian 
Brook. They did not like the soil nor the 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 139 

general appearance of tlie locality, so tliey soon 
returned to the shore, hoping to meet the 
shallop. They now directed their course along 
the sands where they had seen the Indians, and 
ascertained that the strange fish upon which 
they were at work was a gra7npiis. They soon 
after found several of these which had died 
from becoming entangled among the ice-cakes 
in tlie shallow water. 

It is a large animal, half the size of a Green- 
land full-grown whale, being often seen from 
twenty-five to thirty feet in length, and ten or 
twelve in circumference. 

The Indians were cutting one into long 
strips, some of which they dropped in their 
hasty departure. The pilgrims called the 
place Grampus Bay. 

The land party now struck off on the Indian 
trail, which led quite a distance through the 
woods, then out into old corn-fields, and finally 
into an extensive burial plot, some part of 
which was inclosed. In their ranging about 
they lighted upon a few forsaken Indian wig- 



140 Views from Plymouth Kock. 

warns, but found nothing in them except two 
baskets of parched acorns. These they left as 
they found them. "So they ranged up and 
down all the day, but found no people, nor any 
place they liked. When the sun grew low they 
hasted out of the woods to meet with their shal- 
lop, to whom the^' made signs to come to them 
into a creek hard by, the which they did at high 
water ; of which they were very glad, for they 
had not seen each other all the day since the 
morning. So they made them a barricade, as 
usually they did every night, with logs, stakes, 
and thick pine bows, the height of a man, 
leaving it open to the leeward, partly to shelter 
them from the cold and wind, (making their fire 
in the middle and lying round about,) and part- 
ly to defend them from any sudden assault of 
the savages if they should surround them." 

Usually these precautions had proved un- 
necessary, but not so at this time. About mid- 
night they heard a great and hideous cry, and 
their sentinels shouted, " To arms! to arms T^ 
Immediately the camp was awake, and a couple 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 141 

of muskets were shot off, at which the yells 
ceased. Hearing nothing further, they con- 
cluded the noise was made by wolves or foxes ; 
and in this conviction they were confirmed by 
one of the sailors, who said he had heard such 
noises in Newfoundland from these animals. 
They lay down again and rested until five 
o'clock, when they were all astir. Some, to see 
if their muskets were in good order, shot them ofi*. 
Afcer morning prayers the breakfast was eaten, 
and they began to prepare to embark and sail 
on further discoveries. They speak of these 
morning hours of prayer as a part of their 
preparation for each day's labor. They were 
indeed the fittest preparation, and so they must 
have thought, especially in the midst of such 
incidents as now followed. In removing their 
luggage to the boat, some remarked that they 
had wrapped their muskets up in their coats to 
keep them from the dew, and that they would 
carry them at once on board to keep them in a 
better condition. Others said that they would 
not part with theirs until they went themselves. 



142 YiEWs FKOM Plymouth Eock. 

It so happened that those who started with 
theh'S for the boat found the tide so low, and 
the boat so far away from the shore, that they 
laid them down on the bank and went back to 
the camp. Suddenly the terrific Indian yell 
fell upon their ears. Being now fully awake, 
they did not mistake it for the cry of wolves 
and foxes. One of their nmnber who had wan- 
dered a short distance away, rushed into the 
camp crying, " Men ! Indians ! ! Indians ! ! ! " 
To give speed to his flight a shower of arrows 
fell about him and into the camp. Captain 
Standish, who was not one whose gun was 
missing, seized it, and sent a bullet among the 
invaders. His musket was ''^ a snapJiance,^'' 
that is, a flint lock, a clumsy beginning of that 
kind of a gun which has now given w^ay in its 
turn to the percussion-cap gun. The Captain 
was the only man who had one, so he was prompt 
in firing. Soon another touched off his match- 
lock, while others ran for the arms left at the 
shore, which they obtained, " by the good prov- 
idence of God," tlie a^f^ailants showing their 



Views fkom Plymouth Rock. 143 

appreciation of the act of bravery by setting up 
a terrible yell, and sending arrows after them 
thick and fast. The cool Standish ordered the 
men not to waste their powder but to take 
deliberate aim, and to guard and hold at all 
hazards the open side of the camp ; for while 
this was held the Indians would have, in an 
attempt upon the shallop, a fire in the rear. 
The land party shouted to the boat's company 
in the midst of the fray to know " how it was 
with them." 

" Well ! well ! ! and you be of good courage," 
was shouted back as they fired a volley at the 
enemy. The boat's company, getting short of 
match-rope, were likely to be in a bad con- 
dition. At this critical moment one from the 
camp seized a burning log and ran with it to 
them, which brought another shower of arrows 
and tempest of yells from the savages. 

But all the bravery w^as not on the side of 
the white men. There was a lusty Indian, 
evidently their chief, who crept from tree to 
tree until lie I: in reached one quite near the 



144: YiEws FKOM Plymouth Rock. 

camp. From this place lie took good aim, and 
kept the camj) busy in dodging his arrows. He 
stood three shots from the muskets, but at 
length one made the bark ily about his face ; 
and he, probably thinking that it was time to 
be going, ran yelling away with the whole at- 
tacking party at his heels. Captain Standish 
ordered his men to pursue, which they did, fol- 
lowing them into the woods about one fourth 
of a mile, leaving six to guard the shallop, "for 
they were careful of their business." They 
thought, no doubt, that one fourth of a mile 
was quite as far as it Vv^as prudent to continue 
in the pursuit ; for they then defiantly " shouted 
all together two several times, and shot off 
a couple of muskets and returned." This 
they did "that the Indians might see that 
they were not afraid of them, neither dis- 
couraged." 

Returning to their barricade, "they gave God 
solemn thanks and praise for their deliver- 
ances." It was indeed a critical time with 
them, for the Indians, no doubt, out-numbered 



Views from Plymouth Eock. M5 

them two or three to one. But it proved a 
bloodless battle to the white men, not one of 
them being hit ; and it was by no means cer- 
tain that the Indians did not escape with no 
greater harm than a severe fright. The pil- 
grims had no "sharp shooters" with Spencer 
rifles. 

The victors gathered up the spoils of war in 
arrows which were strewn about the battle- 
ground, some of which were headed with brass, 
otliers with harts' horn, and a few with eagles' 
claws. The brass heads showed that tliey had 
seen Europeans before. IS^o mention is made 
of the flint arrow-heads, which have been found 
elsewhere so plentifully on old huunting or 
lighting-grounds of the savages. The Cape 
Indians may have found no material of which 
to make them. A bundle of these arrows they 
afterward sent to England. 

The pilgrims quickly embarked after this 
exciting conflict ; and, naming the place 
" The First Encounter," left it to coast along 
the shore. They determined to sail to the 



146 Views fkom Plymouth Eock. 

place recommended by the pilot, Mr. Coppin, 
should they not see an attractive spot before 
reaching it. 

They had the wind fair for several hours and 
sailed near the land, watching with eager in- 
terest the inlets for a good harbor and a favor- 
able place for a new home. About midday the 
weather changed, and by the middle of the 
afternoon the wind had increased to a tempest, 
attended by mingled snow and rain, with the 
sea running fearfully high. 

They passed Barnstable Bay during this 
blinding snow-storm, and therefore did not see 
it, or they would quite certainly, under the cir- 
cumstances, have accepted that locality, and 
been far less favorably circumstanced than 
at Plymouth. 

.While being thus pressed by the sea and 
wind their rudder broke ! Two men with diffi- 
cult} supplied its place, each with an oar. At 
this moment the pilot told them to be of good 
cheer, for he saw the harbor. The storm in- 
creasing, and the night coming on, they crowded 



Views from Plymouth Rock. 147 

all sail upon their frail boat to get in before the 
darkness should surround them. In doing this 
they exceeded the bounds of prudence, and the 
mast broke, the sail fell overboard, and they 
lay at the mercy of the heavy sea ! But their 
self-possession did not fail them, for their trust 
was in God. Putting the disabled craft into 
the best trim they could, and having the tide 
with them, they rowed into the harbor : " But 
when the shallop came to, the pilot was de- 
ceived in the place, and said, 'The Lord be 
merciful unto us, for mine eyes never saw this 
place before ! ' and he and the mate would have 
run her ashore in a cove full of breakers, before 
the wind. But a lusty sailor who steered bade 
those who rowed, if they were men, about with 
her, or else they were all cast away ; the which 
they did with speed. So he bade them to be of 
good cheer and row lustily, for there was a fair 
sound before them, and he doubted not but 
they should find one place or other where they 
might ride in safety. And though it was very 
darli^ and rained sore, yet in the end they got 



14:8 YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 

under the lee of a small island, and remained 
there all night in safety." 

That is, they had at first approached the end 
of the beach on the seaward side, where was 
the cove full of breakers. By the courage and 
presence of mind of the " lusty sailor," they 
pulled off from the shore ; and then taking the 
wind, which had blown them to the beach, 
nearly astern, shot across the mouth of the 
harbor, cleared Saquish Point, and made the 
sheltering shore of what is now known as 
Clark's Island. 

" But they knew not this to be an island till 
the morning, but were divided in their minds. 
Some would keep their boats for fear they might 
be among the Indians ; others were so weak 
and cold they could not endure, but got ashore, 
and with much ado got fire, (all things being so 
wet,) and the rest were glad to come to them ; 
for after midnight the wind shifted to the north- 
west, and it froze hard. But though this had 
been a day and night of much trouble and 
danger unto them, yet God gave them a morn- 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 151 

i7ig of comfort and refreshing, (as usually he 
does his children,) for the next day was a fair, 
sun-shining day, and they found themselves to 
be on an island secure from the Indians, where 
they might dry their stuff, fix their pieces, 
and rest themselves, and give God thanks for 
his mercies in their manifold deliverances. 
And this being the last day of the week, 
(Saturday, December 19, 1620,) they prepared 
to keep the Sabbath." 

Having looked about the island on Saturday, 
to assure themselves that they were free from 
the danger of a surprise from the Indians ; and, 
no doubt, having gathered fuel for their fire for 
at least another day, they made as good a camp 
as the circumstances would allow, and prepared 
to refrain from all labor on God's holy day. 
Resting under some sheltering trees around 
their blazing fire, they read the blessed Word, 
sung their solemn yet cheerful psalms, and 
thanked the Lord for tlieir wonderful preserva- 
tion from perils by sea and land. Elder Brew- 
ster was not with them, but Carver, their Gov- 



152 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 

ernor and Deacon^ and Bradford and Winslow, 
all active Christians, could lead in prayer, and 
speak from the Scriptures words of comfort 
and love. Worldly men would have felt that 
their circumstances made such a Sabbatli's rest 
impossible ; but these men arose on Monday 
stronger in body and more vigorous in mind 
for the difficulties yet to be overcome. Their 
obedience to God's commands was the best 
haste. 

On Monday, December 21, (new style,) they 
first surveyed the harbor so far as to ascertain 
that it would be a safe place for ships, and then 
stepped upon The Bock which lay upon the 
shore, making a convenient landing. 

They spent most of the day exploring the 
vicinity, and finding brooks and cleared land 
were favorably impressed, and returned the 
next day in a straight course to the Mayflower, 
a distance of twenty-six miles, bearing a favor- 
able report. 



Views from Plymouth Kock. 153 



CHAPTEE XI. 

THE LANDING. 

DuEiNG the absence of the exploring party for 
nearly a week the time must have passed slowly 
with their anxious friends in the Mayflower. 
While they looked from her deck upon the stormy 
sea and snowy atmosphere, and felt the cold of 
winter, they could but think of them in their 
frail shallop on an unknown coast, or en- 
camped without shelter on land, surrounded 
by savages. But their trust was in God. To 
him in prayer they committed those seeking " a 
habitation." But while thus anxious for the 
absent ones an incident occurred to their own 
party as mournful as it was unexpected. It 
was the drowning, by accidentally falling over- 
board, of Dorothy, wife of William Bradford, 
the historian ; so that his joy on his return for 

the many narrow escapes of the expedition was 
10 



154 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

suddenly marred by the sorrows of widow- 
hood. 

On Friday, the 25th of December, the May- 
flower weighed anchor and made sail for Ply- 
mouth. Five weeks they had been in Province- 
town Harbor — weeks of deep solicitude and 
much toil. "With high hopes they bore away 
due west, and had come within six miles of 
the desired haven, when a high contrary wind 
drove them back toward tlieir old anchorage. 
The next morning they tried again with better 
success; and had but just dropped their anchor 
in Plymouth Bay, when the wind veered to a 
point which would have sent them again to 
Cape Cod. 

They were much pleased as they looked 
upon the scene from the deck of their vessel. 
The bay appeared to them of ample size and 
well formed, with its hook-shaped beaches 
nearly meeting at its entrance. "Innumerable 
store of water-fowl, excellent good," swam and 
flew about them, and they felt assured tliat 
there were plenty offish in their season. They 



Views fkom Plymouth Rock. 155 

thought the shore was " a goodly land," having, 
as they could see, trees — oaks, pines, walnut 
beech, sassafras, and others which were strange 
to them — with vines and shrubs^ It was Satur- 
day, the night was setting in, so they contented 
themselves with this distant view of their new 
home. Their faith and hope must have greatly 
aided them in clothing the scene with so much 
that is " goodly." Every thing was in its winter 
garb. There were no habitations to cheer their 
sight. If there were inhabitants, they were 
their savage enemies. But they felt sure there 
was in this desolate place that which they 
^ow^t— freedom. The next day they remained 
in the Mayflower. It was the Sabbath; the 
sixth they had spent in the ISTew World, and. 
was given to God, as the others had been, in 
acts of prayer and praise. 

On Monday a company under Captain Jones 
went ashore. They explored for several miles, 
finding cleared land, and evidence of Indian oc- 
cupation in previous years. They were pleased 
to find, in addition to the trees they had seen 



156 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

from the vessel, plum and cherry trees, straw- 
berry vines in abundance, and an excellent 
kind of flax and hemp. Some of the soil, they 
said, was " excellent black earth, fat in some 
places, and a spit's (spade's) depth ;" much was 
sandy, and some was excellent clay, " good for 
pots, and will wash like soap." They found 
also, during this day's excursion, that which 
above all delighted them, " the best water that 
ever was drunk, and brooks now beginning to 
be full of fish." 

Thus ended the first day ashore. 

The next day two parties started on a 
pioneering excursion, one by land and the 
other in the shallop, and appear to have kept in 
sight of each other. They found a creek, and 
a fine river up which they sailed several miles, 
now Jones's Hiver. Having returned to the 
mouth of the river, they all entered the shallop 
and landed on Clarke's Island, giving it a pretty 
thorough examination. This brought them to 
the shadows of the evening ; so they returned 
to the Mayflower to make their report, and to 



YiEws FKOM Plymouth Kock. 157 

get lieeded rest and refreshment for further dis- 
coveries. 

There was now a consultation on board con- 
cerning the precise spot on which to commence 
the settlement. Some were in favor of Jones's 
River, at the head of its tide waters, several miles 
from the bay. It was navigable for small ves- 
sels, and its banks seemed to them very invit- 
ing. But it was objected that this would be 
far from the fishing-grounds, and was so encom- 
passed with woods as to expose them to sur- 
prises by the Indians, and would cost more 
labor in clearing than they, in their present 
condition, could afford to bestow. 

Others were in favor of locating on Clarke's 
Island, urging, as the most important reason, 
that it would be easily defended against ene- 
mies. To this it was very decisively answered 
that the place was too much exposed to the 
cold winds, too small for the whole company, 
and afforded no good prospect of a plentiful 
supply of fresh water. A nervous recollection 
of the Fii'st Encounter must have influenced 



158 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

the judgment of those who would choose 
Clarke's Island. 

The next morning they decided to send one 
more exploring company to examine two places 
more thoroughly which had been before visited, 
and between which the preference of the major- 
ity seemed now to be divided ; and they agreed 
that on the return of the party the final choice 
should be made. They were urged to this 
decision by the lateness of the season, it being 
now the 29th of December ; by the impatience 
of the captain and crew of the Mayflower to 
return to England ; and because their supply of 
provisions was becoming alarmingly small. 

Before this important final exploration was 
made, the whole company were assembled, and 
prayer was offered for the Divine guidance. 

The examination of the places being made, 
the majority voted for "The mainland, on the 
first place, (examined,) on a high ground, where 
there is a great deal of land cleared, and hath 
been planted with corn three or four years ago ; 
and there is a very sweet brook runs under the 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 159 

hill-side, and many delicate springs of as 
good water as can be drunk, and where we 
may harbor our shallops and boats exceeding 
welL" 

This " sweet brook " was the " Town Brook ;" 
and the description refers to the high land be- 
low what they named Fort Hill, now " Bm'ial 
Hill." On this spot, selected after long search- 
ing and much prayer, they at once made a 
camp for about twenty ; the rest of those able 
to labor purposing to join them in the morning. 
But the next day, December 31, was stormy 
and wet, and none could leave the ship, and 
those on shore had a most uncomfortable time 
of it, not having had an opportunity to make 
either a shelter, or the means of defense against 
an attack from the Indians. Nor was this all 
their trouble. They had no provisions, and the 
sea rose so high that the shallop could not come 
to them until late in the forenoon ; and the 
storm continued to rage so severely during the 
entire day that she could not return. It is no 
wonder that, in' the midst of these terrible ex- 



160 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 

posures, sickness and death began to be added 
to their trials. Six died in December, and the 
year closed with many at the point of death. 
Saturday the second of January a beginning 
was made in felling trees for building material. 
The next day was Sabbath, kept by each por- 
tion of the divided company under the pressure 
of many causes of disquiet. Those on shore 
were startled and driven to arms by what they 
thought w^as the war-whoop of the dreaded 
Indians. On Monday, the fourth of January, 
(our reckoning,) but with them the twenty-fifth 
of December, Christmas Day, they renewed 
with vigor their labor at building. Some cut 
down the trees, some split, some sawed, and 
others bore the timber to the place of erection. 
They were once interrupted by the false cry of 
''Indians ! Indians ! ! " The bravest men might 
well, under such circumstances, take counsel, in 
a measure, of their fears. It was a fearful 
Christmas to persons accustomed to observe it 
as a day of gladness, and a day for the giving 
of gifts. Their drink was water, except a little 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 161 

beer with which Captain Jones treated at night 
those on board ; their food was plain and their 
labor intense. 

On Thursday, January seventh, they had 
completed a very rough, ''common house," 
about twenty feet square, for a rally ing-place 
and a shelter during further operations. Their 
shallop came up the creek, making the mouth 
of '' Town Brook ;" and this house was a little 
north of the place they used as a wharf, and so 
was convenient as a place of deposit of the 
goods brought from the ship, which was obliged, 
on account of the sand-flats, to lie a mile and a 
half from the shore. 

They now commenced laying out a street, 
starting a little south of the hill, and running 
east to the harbor shore. They divided, for 
economy in building, the whole company into 
nineteen families, and then proceeded to lay 
out as many lots, the lots varying in size ac- 
cording to the number in the family. These 
lots were not large for a new country. Governor 
Carver's family, of eight persons — above the 



162 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

average in size — having one of sixty-six feet 
front by forty-nine and a half in depth. These 
grounds were measured out on the north and 
south side of what is now called Lejden-street. 
When the reader visits with us Plymouth Eock 
and its vicinity we shall be interested in noting 
the very locality. 

Their settlement was made thus compact, 
because they planned to imjpale the whole, and 
part of the hill, for a better defense against the 
savages , and it must be remembered that thej 
were not thinking so much of farming, as of 
trading and fishing. 

They were able only to survey and stake out 
the lots before they were interrupted by cold 
rain storms; besides, very many were ill from 
constant exposure. During these days of wait- 
ing their watchfulness was prompted by the 
camp fires of the Indians, seen about six or 
seven miles away. 

On the following week they were at work 
again. They built their houses of logs, filling 
the chinks with clay, and covering the roof 



YiEWs FROM Plymouth Eock. 163 

with a thatch of long dried grass or reeds. 
Some of the people were scattered through the 
vicinity gathering the thatch, while the strong- 
est prepared the timber and built the cabins. 
Though there was much cold rain, and, of 
course, they were very uncomfortable, they do 
not speak of drifting and deep snow, by which 
their labor would have been iirvpossible. The 
winter was, in fact, remarkably mild for the 
locality. Their later experience of Xew En- 
gland winters caused them to thank God for 
the favorable character of this one, though, as it 
was, they could generally work only about half 
of each week. 

Having made some progress with their houses, 
they adopted a new plan of proceeding. They 
agreed that every man should build his own 
house, thus throwing into their business the 
stimulus of personal interest and a pleasant 
rivalry. In this they continued, only leaving 
off once to unite their labor in constructing a 
temporary shed for their provisions as they 
were landed from the shallop. 



164 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

On the Sabbath, their December 31, the 
majority being on shore, they held their 
public service for the first time in the Com- 
mon House, conducted, no doubt, by Elder 
Brewster, 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eook. 165 



CHAPTEE XII. 

INCIDENTS OF THE FIRST WINTER. 

Let us look a little more closely into the daily 
experience of our pilgrim company. There 
were many circumstances of trial and excite- 
ment besides the toil of building amid alter- 
nating sunshine, rain, and snow. 

We have stated that six persons died in 
December. At the time of the arrival of the 
Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor the majority 
of her company were suffering with colds and 
seated coughs, the sad fruits of the exposures 
and toils upon the Cape, and insufficient or im- 
proper food. Consumption had already marked 
some as its victims; others had contracted the 
scurvy on shipboard, and many were in that 
state of exhaustion which invites fatal diseases. 
In January eight more died. During February 
and March the sickness increased, thirty more 



166 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Rock. 

dying in these two months. In their days of 
the greatest distress there were but seven well 
persons to nnrse the sick and bury the dead. 
Two of these seven were " the reverend elder," 
William Brewster, and Miles Standish, the mili- 
tary captain, of whom "William Bradford thus 
speaks : '^ Myself and many others were much 
beholden to them in our sick and low condition. 
And yet the Lord so upheld these persons as, in 
this general calamity, they were not at all in- 
fected either with sickness or lameness." 

And of these seven sound persons generally 
he says : " They spared no pains night nor day, 
but with abundance of toil and hazard of their 
own health fetched wood for the sick, made 
them fires, dressed their meat, made their beds, 
washed their loathsome clothes, clothed and 
unclothed them ; in a word, did all the homely 
and necessary ofiices for them ; and did all 
willingly and cheerfully, witliout any grudging 
in the least, showing herein their true love unto 
their friends and brethren. A rare example, 
and worthy to be remembered." 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 167 

This sickness first attacked those who were 
of the pilgrim company. The ship's ofiicers 
and crew "hasted them ashore, where they 
were obliged to drink only water, that the sea- 
men might have the more beer." This might 
have been all the better for the sick, but it was 
not so regarded by them. One in his weak- 
ness requested that at least a small can might 
be sent ashore to him. Tt was replied, "]^o; 
if you were my own father you shonld have 
none." The captain was keeping a sharp look- 
out for the return voyage. But soon the ship's 
company began to be sick, and before it sailed 
nearly half of them died, including some of 
their officers and " lustiest " men. This created 
a more tender feeling on board, and from this 
time the sick on shore shared with them what- 
ever there was for their comfort. 

The moral difference between the ship's com- 
pany and the pilgrims was very apparent during 
the visitation of disease and death. The sailors 
"had been boon companions in drinking and 
jollity in the times of their health and wel- 



168 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

fare." But now they deserted one another. 
They refused to hazard their h'ves to give com- 
fort to the infected. They heartlessly kept 
away from the cabins of the dying, saying, " If 
they must die, let them die." One, as death 
approached, cursed his wife, accusing her of 
having influenced him to undertake the voyage ; 
and then he cursed his companions, saying that 
he had done many a service for them, and spent 
much money with them in their jovial seasons, 
but that now, in his distress, they forsook him. 
One poor fellow bribed a companion to render 
him some kind offices by telling him, that if he 
died, he should have all he left. After a little 
reluctant service the wretch forsook the dying 
man, and went to his companions swearing that 
the rascal was not going to die, but meant to 
cheat him by living, and that he would be 
choked if he did another thing for him. The 
poor fellow, however, died in a few hours. 

In marked contrast to this were the spirit 
and conduct of the pilgrims. Those who were 
on board, and able to do so, were unremitting 



Views from Plymouth Rock. 169 

in their kind attentions to these wicked men, 
not counting their lives dear unto them that 
thev might do the sailors good. The boat- 
swain, a proud young man, lay sick and dying. 
He had often scoffed at and ill-treated the 
pilgrims, ^ow they rendered good for his 
evil. They were unceasing in their attention. 
Turning his dying eyes upon them he said sad- 
ly : " I do not deserve this at your hands. 
Now I see that you show your love like Chris- 
tians, botir toward one another and to those 
who have wronged you, while we let one an- 
other live and die like dogs." 

Such fruit did these Christians bring forth in 
affliction, and to such tests of character were 
they subjected. Thus far, during the preva- 
lence of the sickness, Winslow, Standish, and 
Allertou had become widowers. 

" The spring now approaching, it pleased 

God the mortality began to cease among them, 

and the sick and lame recovered apace, which 

put, as it were, new life into them, though they 

had borne their sad affliction with as much 
11 



170 YiEWs FKOM Plymouth Rock. 

patience and contentedness as any people could 
do. But it was the Lord who upheld them, 
and had beforehand prepared them, many 
having long borne the yoke, yea, from their 
youth." 

The number of deaths before the first spring 
had passed was hfty-one, half of their whole com- 
pany. They were buried on a little swell of 
land since named Cole's Hill, near the shore, 
and the ground leveled to conceal from their 
Indian foes the extent of their loss. No stone 
ever marked their resting-place. The green 
grass soon waved over it, fittest emblem of their 
enduring memory. 

Having anticipated by a few weeks the 
order of time to grouj) together these sad 
incidents, we will turn back and note events of 
a more cheerful character. 

On Wednesday, January thirteenth, some of 
the people were seeking thatch about the for- 
saken corn-fields, and were attracted by the 
great fires made by the Indians. The next 
day their prompt commander, Captain Standish, 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. ITl 

took a small detachment of armed men and 
went to the place where they had been ; but 
the shy natives had departed. He found then- 
houses, but none which had been recently oc- 
cupied. On their return they shot an eagle, 
and carried it to headquarters, where it was 
dressed and cooked. It was eaten and pro- 
nounced "excellent meat," and "harr'iy to 
be discerned from mutton." A shan appe- 
tite must have given color to this favorable 
comparison of the flesh of a carnivorous eagle 
with the meat of the grazing sheep. 

The following day a herring was stranded 
and taken alive, and eaten with a relish all the 
more enjoyed, as it seemed to be an assurance 
that there would be a good supply of this fish. 
They had taken but one cod yet; they were 
destitute of suitable hooks for these waters, a 
strange want of foresight for so thoughtful and 
painstaking a company, which cost them much 
subsequent suffering. 

The shallop returned on Monday from her 
customary fishing excursion, and brought 



172 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

"three great seals and an excellent good 
cod." 

The same day Francis Billington and the 
mate of the Mayflower started- to explore the 
region of a sheet of water which had been seen 
from the top of a high tree. They traveled, 
as they thought, abont three miles, and dis- 
covered " a great water divided into two great 
lakes, the bigger of them five or six miles Id cir- 
cuit, and in it an isle of a cable's length square. 
The other was three miles in compass. In 
their estimation they are fine fresh water, 
full of fish and fowl. A brook issues 
from it. It will be an excellent help in 
time." 

Later information shows that the explorers 
made quite a creditable report for those making 
so hasty a survey. Billington Sea, as it is now 
called, is here well described. The brook was 
Toi07i Brook, on the north bank of which they 
were now settling. 

In all such excursions Indian houses were 
found ; but the pilgrims could not yet under- 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 173 

stand why tliey sLould bear the marks of having 
been for years without inhabitants. 

On tlie twenty-second of this month (January) 
the settlement was thrown into a feverish anxi- 
ety by the thoughtlessness of two of its mem- 
bers, John Goodman and Peter Browne. Hav- 
ing cut thatch all the forenoon, they directed 
their companions to bind it np and follow them. 
They then sauntered off. The others having 
made the bundles of thatch attempted to follow ; 
but after repeated shoutings and searching this 
way and that, returned to camp and reported 
them lost. Repeated detachments were sent 
out, but the night shut in and no tidings 
came concerning them. The next day ten 
armed men made a weary tramp of ten miles, 
and returned reporting that they had neither 
seen nor heard of them. This " brought great 
discomfort to all," for fears were entertained 
that they had been surprised and carried off by 
the savages. 

Let us now leave these anxious friends and 
follow the heedless fugitives. They had taken 



174 Views from Plymouth Kock. 

their dinner in tlieir hands and strolled away 
until they came to a small lake. They were 
accompanied by two dogs, a mastiff and a 
spaniel. They started a deer at the water side, 
to which the dogs very natm*ally gave chase, 
and the men very heedlessly following v/ere 
soon, of coarse, lost. They were thinly clothed 
and without food, and their discomfort was in- 
creased by a storm of mingled snow and rain, 
which was followed by freezing cold. They 
were unarmed, except with their sickles. 
Though dreading to meet with the Indians 
they longed to see one of their forsaken houses, 
but none were found. The night came on and 
they took shelter under a tree, fearing to lie 
down lest their sleep should prove the sleep 
of death. Thus, trembling with cold and fear, 
their alarm was increased by the howl, in the 
distance, of two wild beasts. Soon another 
terrific howl started up quite near them. They 
believed these noises came from lions. The 
wolves which made them were for years after- 
ward the terror of the colonists. The fright- 



YiEws FKOM Plymouth Kock. 1Y5 

ened men prepared to spring up into the tree on 
their nearer approach, while the do2:s crouched 
at their feet growling a timid defiance. In this 
predicament they stamped about under the tree 
until morning, and then commenced their search 
for the way homeward, wandering off four or 
Rve miles south of Plymouth. In the afternoon 
they fortunately ascended a high hill, and ob- 
tained sight of the familiar objects of their har- 
bor; so that they reached home that night 
weary, hungry, and almost perished with cold. 
Goodman's shoes were cut from his feet, and it 
was a long time before his swollen limbs could 
render their accustomed service. 

The pilgrims for awhile dwelt " in the midst 
of alarms." The day after the arrival of the 
lost ones the thatch of the roof of the Common 
House caught fire from a spark from the chim- 
ney, and was quickly consumed. Carver and 
Bradford, who were sick, fled just in time to 
escape being killed by the explosion of some 
powder. Loaded muskets were in every part 
of the room, and the beds of the sick were 



176 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

crowded closely together. An eye-witness, who 
writes the account, exclaims, ^* Blessed be God, 
there was no harm done ! '' 

The damage to the house was slight, and 
soon repaired. But those on board the May- 
flower were the most alarmed by the incident. 
They had not heard of the return of Goodman 
and Brown ; and they imagined that the In- 
dians, having killed them, had now attacked 
the settlement and set the rendezvous on fire. 

John Goodman seems to have been followed 
by trouble whenever he ventured into the 
woods : " Thursday the twenty-ninth, in the 
evening, he went abroad to use his lame feet, 
which were pitifully ill with the cold he had 
got. He had a little spaniel with him ; and a 
little way from the Plantation two great wolves 
ran after the dog, which fled for succor to his 
master, crouching between his legs. Goodman 
had nothing in his hand, but took up a stick 
and threw at one of them, and hit him. Pres- 
ently they both ran away, but soon came back 
again. He seized a stake, and the wolves sat 



Views from Plymouth Rock. 177 

upon their tails a good while grinning at him. 
They finally went their way and left him." 

On the afternoon of Friday, February nine- 
teenth, the little log-cabin which had been put 
up for a hospital caught fire in the straw- 
covered roof, as the Common House had done, 
causing much alarm among the suffering in- 
mates, but not doing much damage. 

That evening a more agreeable incident oc- 
curred. Captain Jones went ashore gunning, 
and returned to the sick people with ■G.ve geese, 
which he kindly distributed among them. This 
might not seem exactly the diet they needed, 
but it was, no doubt, much better than that 
which they had long eaten. The want of fresh 
provisions was one occasion of the prevailing 
sickness. The Captain brought home also 
some venison, taken in an unexpected way. 
He found a deer freshly killed. The Indians 
had just shot him and cut off his horns, when 
they took to flight, leaving their prey well 
bled. Perhaps the distant sight of the ap- 
proaching white man had hastened their de- 



178 Views from Plymouth Rock. 

parture. The wolves iuter veiling had devoured 
a portion, and tlien gave way to the stranger, 
but not, probably, in the spirit of a generous 
hospitality. 

A few days after, one of the men was fowling 
by the side of the creek among the reeds, about 
a mile and a half from the plantation, when 
twelve Indians passed him, marching toward it. 
He lay close until they had passed, and then 
ran with all speed to give the alarm. At the 
signal gun those abroad hastened home, and all 
were soon in fighting order. But the Indianb 
did nothing more serious than to light their camp 
fires at a distance, with one not very creditable 
exception. Captain Stan dish, and a fellow- 
workman upon the building material, in their 
haste to be at the post of danger, when they 
heard the alarm gun left their tools behind. 
These the savages took without the captain's 
leave, an act which such a man was not likely 
readily to overlook. 

These frequent alarms created an increased 
watchfulness among the pilgrims. Their guns 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 179 

were carefully examined, and tlieir ammunition 
kept dry, and their sentinels lield to the strictest 
vigilance. Saturday, February twenty-seventh, 
was devoted to the establishment of regular 
military discipline. Miles Standish was chosen 
captain. While thus engaged two Indians ap- 
peared on the hill south of Town Brook, and 
made signs to the white men to come to them. 
This invitation was reciprocated, the pilgrims 
beckoning the Indians to them. The distrust 
and the desire for an interview were apparent 
in both parties. At length the brave Standish, 
with only one attendant, stepped forward, lay- 
ing down his musket in their sight in token of 
peace. But the wily savages ran away. 

The pilgrims now hastened to complete their 
means of defense. Three cannon were brouo-ht 
ashore, dragged to the top of the hill, and placed 
upon a platform erected to receive them. They 
carried a four pound shot each, and were no 
doubt equal to the service required of them, 
though very small affairs compared with their 
modern successors. Two smaller pieces, carry- 



180 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 

ing light shot, were also put in position. These 
labors were followed by a kind of feast, of 
which the seamen and settlers partook together. 
Captain Jones provided " a very fat goose," and 
the other party "a fat crane, a duck, and a 
dried neat's tongue ;" and " so they were kindly 
and friendly together." 

Early in March Governor Carver, with a 
company of five others, made further explora- 
tions about the great pond which Billington 
had discovered, finding evidence of the frequent 
visits of deer to that region, and of the constant 
presence of a great variety and abundance of 
fowl, both of which facts gave great joy. 

The first appearance of spring must have 
been hailed with pleasure by the settlers, though 
it had all the fickleness of the l^ew England 
climate. They thus describe it : " Saturday 
tlie thirteenth of March the wind was south, 
the morning misty, but toward noon warm and 
fair weather. The birds sang in the woods most 
pleasantly. At one o'clock it thundered, which 
was the first we heard in the country; it was 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Rock. 181 

strong and great claps, but short ; after an hour 
it rained very sadly until midnight." 

Planting, and guarding against the Indians, 
were the two most important matters of interest 
just now. Their ignorance up to this time of 
the number and feelings toward them of the 
Indians was an occasion of painful suspense and 
burdensome solicitude. Happily, God, who 
had watched over them thus far, and who had 
so plainly guided them to this place, had pre- 
pared the way for the removal of this difficulty 
also. He, the Friend equally of the white and 
red man, was about to introduce each to the 
other in the most pleasant manner. 



182 YiEWs FROM Plymouth Kock. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

INDIAN" VISITORS. 

On Friday the twentj-sixtli of March, being a 
fair, warm day, the chief men assembled again 
to complete the organization of their military 
force. While thus engaged they were as usnal 
startled with the cry of " Indians ! Indians ! " It 
proved not to be the rush of savage men, toma- 
hawk and scalping-knife in hand, but the con- 
fiding approach of a single Indian, with the 
salutation, in tolerably good English, of '' "Wel- 
come, Englishmen ! Welcome, Englishmen ! " 
He marched boldly past the private houses to 
head-quarters. He was here intercepted, or he 
would have entered without even saying " by 
your leave." He proved " to be free of speech," 
and " of a seemly carriage, and gave a good ac- 
count of himself." His name was Samoset, a 
chief or sachem of a tribe far away to the east, 



Views feom Plymouth Eook. 183 

where lie had become acquainted with the En- 
glish, and learned something of their language. 
He had been eight months " in these parts." 
He had the dress, or rather the ^^^idress, of a 
savage. He wore only a piece of dressed skin 
about his waist, bordered with a narrow fringe. 
It was growing piercingly cold, so the pilgrims 
cast a horseman's coat over him. He was a tall, 
straight man, with coarse black hair hanging 
long behind. He asked for some beer, and his 
entertainers, after the unwise hospitality of the 
times, gave him "strong water." They also 
sat before him biscuit, butter, cheese, pudding, 
and a piece of duck, " all of which he liked 
well," most especially, no doubt, "the strong 
water," not from the Town Brook. The guest 
now felt in the best of humor, and his new 
friends plied him w^ith questions about matters 
which greatly concerned them. He said the 
place where they were settled was called by the 
Indians Patuxet ; that a few years before a ter- 
rible sickness swept oif nearly all the inhabit- 
ants of this region, and that there were none to 



184 Views from Plymouth Eock. 

dispute their settling here. He spoke intelli- 
gently of the tribes in various directions; of 
their sachems, numbers, and disposition toward 
the whites. 

Having conversed with their visitor until 
evening, and having obtained what information 
they could, the pilgrims would gladly have dis- 
missed him in peace. But he was well pleased 
with his new acquaintance and good cheer, and 
decidedly declined to go. They then proposed 
to him to go on board the ship for the night, to 
which he readily assented. He entered the 
shallop ; but the wind blowing a fresh breeze, 
and the tide ebbing, it put back, and Samoset 
spent the night, as he desired, with his friends 
on shore. A watch was set about the house in 
which he lodged, but he proved harmless. 

In the morning he added some items of value 
to the information he had given. Massasoit, 
he said, was their nearest neighbor, whose 
men were sixty strong ; and the Nausets were 
south-east of them, (at Eastham,) and were a 
hundred strong. These last were the Indians 



YiEWs FKOM Plymouth Kock. 185 

who had attacked the pilgrims at "The First 
Encounter." He had heard of that fight, and 
said that these savages were very angry at the 
English. They had good reason to be, as it 
was afterward ascertained. Six years before, 
the celebrated Captain Smith, of Pocahontas 
fame, visited these waters. A Captain Hnnt 
commanded one of the ships, and when 
Smith left. Hunt remained with his vessel to 
trade. Having derived all the profit possible 
from them in trafiic, he stole seven of the In- 
dians themselves, by decoying them on board 
his vessel and then sailing away. He repeated 
this villainy afterward, in a worse form, in the 
very place now selected for a plantation by the 
pilgrims. "Having many of them on board, 
he made a great slaughter with his murderous 
and small shot." He took twenty of them 
captives, and the whole twenty-seven he at- 
tempted to sell as slaves at Malaga. But a 
just indignation from God and man followed 
the wretch. He died miserably in Virginia 

not long after, and a few of the victims of his 
12 



186 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

greediness for gain were returned to their native 
land. 

No wonder, then, that the pilgrims learned 
from Samoset that the Indians were angry at 
the white men. The Nausets (the Cape Cod In- 
dians) had, in fact, revenged this wrong by kill- 
ing three Europeans just before the pilgrims 
arrived. The Indian blood was up, and they 
were for war to the tomahawk and scalping- 
knife! Unfortunately, too, it was from these 
very Indians that our pilgrims, in their neces- 
sity, had taken the corn at " Cornhill." But 
we shall see that they convinced them that there 
was a great difference in white men. 

On Saturday they dismissed Samoset, giving 
him a knife, a bracelet, and a ring. He prom- 
ised soon to return, bringing some others, with 
beaver skins for trading. 

The savage was altogether too prompt in 
repeating his visit. "While the pilgrims were, 
on the next day, enjoying the quiet and devo- 
tion of the Sabbath, he came, bringing ^wq 
stalwart companions. They are described as 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 187 

haviDa; deer-skins thrown over tlieir shoulders, 
trowsers of dressed skin, and pieces of the same 
material about their waist. Their coarse black 
hair hung long behind, but was cut short high 
upon their foreheads. Some dressed the head 
with feathers, arranged to stand up like a fan ; 
and others wore the tail of a fox on the back 
of the head, where modern ladies wear " water- 
falls." 

As they had been instructed through Samo- 
set, they left, a quarter of a mile away, their 
war weapons — bows, arrows, and tomahawks. 
The pilgrims, like all real Christians, disliked 
visits of ceremony on the Sabbath, so they en- 
tertained their stranger friends as briefly as 
possible. They set before them a plain repast, 
of which they ate heartily ; but the Indians 
added to it some cakes made from pounded 
corn, which they brought with them. The 
account says, that after the meal their chief took 
a little tobacco from a bag and filled all his 
men's pipes. But none of them " drunk " until 
he lifted his pipe. By the word " drunk " they 



188 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

mean smoked', for people in those days talked of 
drinking tobacco when they referred to smoking. 
Perhaps it seemed to them like a bad kind of 
drinking. These Indians then all smoked their 
pipes after dinner, and were very polite about 
it, saying, by waiting for their sachem to begin, 
" After yon is manners ! " 

They brought some furs to trade; but the 
pilgrims told them that it was their Holy Day, 
and that they nmst come again for that pur- 
pose. Then they said, "We will leave our furs 
until we return." But the white men would 
not let them do that. "When they had done 
smoking they gave their new friends, much 
against their sense of what was fitting for the 
day, an exhibition of their songs and dances, 
or ^' antics ^^ as the whites called them. The 
pilgrims then bowed them away as politely as 
possible, giving them "a few trifles," and 
accompanying them to the place where they 
had left their bows and arrows. Samoset, how- 
ever, was either sick, or pretended to be, and 
would not go. He remained until the follow- 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 189 

ing Wednesday, when he was sent away with 
presents for himself, and a message to the In- 
dian neighbors to inquire why they had not 
come to trade accordino; to aoTeement. 

When he was gone, the chief men again as- 
sembled to finish their military organization. 
But the Indians, as if they knew of the meeting, 
showed themselves on a neighboring hill, and 
made signs of defiance by whetting their arrow- 
heads and rubbing their bow-strings. But at a 
sight of a few of Captain Standish's armed men 
they scampered away. The next day the mili- 
tai-y meeting met with the usual interruption. 
Samoset appeared with a companion, whom he 
introduced as Squanto. Squanto surprised our 
friends by speaking much better English than 
Samoset. The explanation, learned afterward, 
was this : "He was one of five Indians who had 
been carried to England (by fair solicitation, 
not stolen) by Captain George Weymouth in 
1605, only three years after the first appearance 
of white men upon these shores. He remained 
there awhilo with John Slanv, Treasurer of the 



190 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

Newfoundland Company. Some say he came 
back, and was stolen by Hunt with those taken 
from Plymouth. But, at any rate, he was a 
native of this place, went to England about 
sixteen years before, and had returned with one 
Captain Dermer the summer preceding the 
arrival of the pilgrims. Dermer, on his way 
to Plymouth, had stopped on the coast of 
Maine, where Samoset reigned as sachem, 
took him in, and left both him and Squanto 
at Plymouth or vicinity. Now they are here, 
to be the interpreters between the strangers 
and the natives. How wonderfully does God 
arrange in his providence to help those who 
trust him, and to bring to pass his great designs 
in establishing a mighty nation ! Without 
either Samoset or Squanto the pilgrims and the 
Indians could not have understood each other, 
and there could have been no peace. 

These two came now with a few presents in 
their hands as the couriers of the great Mas- 
sasoit^ the acknowledged King of many tribes. 
They brought also the tools which had been 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 191 

stolen from those who had been at work in the 
woods. 

About an hour after the King came in sight, 
with Quadequina^ his brother, accompanied by 
sixty warriors. They halted on the hill south 
of the brook. Each party was afraid of the 
other, so they looked at one another for awhile. 
Finally Governor Carver sent Squanto to the 
King for some expression of his wish. The 
chief returned answer that he wanted some one 
to come and have " a big talk." The Governor 
then sent Edward Winslow for the purpose, 
who carried as a present to the great sachem 
" a pair of knives," and a jewel attached to a 
copper chain. To his brother he brought a 
knife, and a jewel to hang in his ear. To these 
presents they added, most unwisely as we should 
think, a pot of "strong water;" "the good 
quantity of biscuit " which finally made up the 
gifts, could have been eaten by hungry In- 
dians with their pure spring water. Winslow 
saluted his Indian Majesty with words of love 
and peace in the name of King James of En- 



192 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

gland. He told him that the Governor desired 
to see him, and make with him a covenant of 
peace, and arrangements for the people of both 
parties to trade together. The chief listened 
very attentively, and declared that he liked the 
talk much. He then ate and drank of what 
was brought him, and gave a portion to his 
men. He then, cast an envious eye upon 
"Winslow's sword and armor, and wanted to 
buy it ; but was told it was not for sale. He 
then left Winslow under the care of his brother, 
and taking twenty men, all unarmed, he started 
for the Governor and his company. Captain 
Standish and Mr. Allerton met him at the 
brook with six soldiers, and saluted him ; and 
very politely, one on each side, escorted him to 
the Common House, then partly built. Here a 
green rug was spread, upon which several 
cushions were placed, and the King was seated 
as became his royal dignitty daring this in- 
troduction the august person of the Governor 
had not been seen. Soon the drum and trum- 
pet announced his coming, and he was intro- 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 193 

duced to tlie astonished savage, while ''the 
musketeers stood upon each side. The Gov- 
ernor kissed his Majesty's hand, and his Royalty 
returned the kiss. The two rulers then feasted 
together, " the strong water " being first served, 
of which the King took so large a drink that it 
" made him sweat all the while after." We 
wonder it had not made him fight during the 
rest of the interview. King Alcohol soon after 
conquered all the Indian tribes, and he has 
been their cruel master ever since, shedding 
their blood, and causing them to shed the white 
man's- blood. But this chief, Massasoit, was too 
much afraid in his present position to feel as he 
would otherwise have done the promptings of 
alcohol, for it is said, " he trembled for fear all 
the time he sat by the Governor." Every sound 
and sight was new to him ; besides, the white 
men had not yet earned his confidence. Seven 
of his own men had been put under guard by 
Captain Standish as a security for the safe 
return of Winslow. So both sides were distrust- 
ful ; yet this truly noble Indian, as he proved 



194: YiEws FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

to be, made on the spot, at the request of the 
strangers, the following treaty : 

1. That neither he nor any of his people 
should injure or do hurt to any of the colony. 

2. If any of his did hurt to any of the colo- 
nists he should - send the offender that they 
might punish him. 

3. If any of the tools of the colonists were 
taken away when the people were at work he 
should cause them to be restored ; and if their 
people did any harm to any of his they should 
do the like to them. 

4. If any did unjustly war against Massasoit 
the colonists should aid him ; and if any warred 
against the colonists he should aid them. 

5. He should send to the neighboring tribes 
to whom he was bound by engagements of 
friendship, that they might not wrong the colo- 
nists, but come into the same conditions of 
peace. 

G. When his men came into the settlement 
of the colonists they should leave their bows 
and arrows behind them, and the whites should 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 195 

do the same with their guns when they went to 
the Indians. 

All this pleased his followers as well as their 
sachem, and the agreement was kept faithfully 
by both parties for fifty years, and was a great 
benefit to all. 

Let us look a little more closely at this 
famous chief and his company as they appeared 
at this time. Massasoit was about forty-five 
years old, large, well-proportioned, and strong 
in body, very sober, and of few words. He was 
distinguished from his men merely by a string 
of bone beads which he wore around his neck, 
from which a bag of tobacco hung behind, 
" from which he drank and gave to the pilgrims 
to drink ;" that is, they smoked all round. His 
face was painted a deep red, which was esteemed 
a royal color, and his men had painted theirs in 
various fancy colors of red, yellow, and black. 
They were all well oiled, '' and looked very 
greasy." " Some had skins on them, and some 
were naked." 

When "the big talk" was over Governor 



196 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 

Carver conducted his guests to the brook, when 
they embraced and separated, the pilgrims 
keeping the seven Indians who were under 
guard until they should receive Winslow in 
safety. In the mean time Quadequina came 
to the Governor, and was treated with much 
the same resjpect that his brother, the sachem, 
was. Mr. Winslow was then sent home and 
the seven Indians dismissed. The Indians be- 
gan to feel, before the interview broke up, 
quite at home. The King was much surprised 
at the trumpet, and his men amused themselves 
by trying to sound it. Two of them were so 
much pleased with their new friends that they 
wanted to remain, but were not allowed by 
the pilgrims to do so. Squanto and Samoset, 
however, claimed special privileges, and stayed 
all night. Massasoit and his men, with their 
women and children, encamped that night in 
the woods just beyond the hill. Standish and 
Allerton made them a visit in the morning, and 
were well treated. The Indians assured them 
that they were coming in a few days to plant 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 197 

corn on and about the liill, and spend the sum- 
mer there, which was probably not very wel- 
come information to the strangers. 

When the Indians were gone the pilgrims 
completed their military arrangements without 
further interruption, having now less fear of 
unfriendly visits. They had seen the Indians, 
and though not su7'e of the sincerity of their 
professions of good-will, they had but little 
doubt that they would keep the peace. 

They learned at a later time that the Indians 
of this vicinity, when they first saw the white 
men attempting a settlement among them, as- 
sembled with th.Q\Y powwoios in a dismal swamp. 
The powwows were their " medicine men " and 
priests ; these built fires in the swamp ; and in 
the night, while the other Indians danced and 
chanted their frightful songs, cursed the white 
men, and called upon the evil spirit to destroy 
them. They were now learning a better way 
in reference to the strangers. 



198 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

AN ERRAND OF PEACE. 

The beginning of April, 1621, was a marked 
period with the colonists, for on the fifth of 
this month the Mayflower left for England. 
She had been in the country nearly five months, 
and had swung at her anchor in Plymouth Harbor 
abont foiir months. At first Captain Jones was 
in a hurry to leave, and pressed the pilgrims to 
hasten the discharge of his vessel ; but their 
chief men detained it, willing rather to increase 
their expenses in so doing than to increase the 
exposures of the Company in sending her away 
before comfortable shelters were provided on 
shore. But when the sickness came, in which 
some of the crew died, and nearly all were pros- 
trated, the captain could not go. But now the 
Mayflower, so long their ocean home, and the 
last visible connection between them and the 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 199 

fatherland, spread her sails and soon disap- 
peared in the dim distance. There are no 
recorded wishes expressed by any to return in 
her, though her departure must have awa- 
kened a keen sense of the sacrifices they were 
making. 

But the sailing of the Mayflower was soon 
forgotten in a more serious cause of sorrow. 
Death, whose harvest they had hoped was com- 
plete, must crown it with one of the ripest and 
most precious sheaves. Toward the close of 
the month of April Governor Carver came 
from the field, where he had been planting 
with the other laborers. It was a warm day, 
and he complained of a pain in his head. He 
lay down, and in a few hours was senseless ; in 
which condition he remained a few days, and 
then fell asleep in Christ. - 

His loss was deeply felt. He was buried with 
a few vollies from the muskets of those able to 
bear arms. His wife was in feeble health at 
the time, and survived her husband only five 
weeks. They left no children ; but the cliil- 



200 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

dren's children of those who knew them rise up 
to call them blessed. 

William Bradford, still hardly recovered from 
sickness, was chosen Governor, and Isaac Aller- 
ton assistant. 

During the planting season Squanto was of 
great service to the settlers, teaching them how 
to catch the alewives, (which were abundant at 
this season in " Town Brook,") and the way to 
use them in planting. Two or three were put 
in a hill of corn, which greatly improved the 
cro]). They proved excellent for all kinds of 
seed. Twenty acres of corn were planted, and 
six of peas and barley. 

"While thus engaged in affairs of public in- 
terest, (such as making treaties with the Indians,) 
and those which concerned a good supply of the 
fruits of the field, domestic matters were not 
neglected. On the twenty-second of May Ed- 
ward Winslow was married to Mrs. Susannah 
White, the mother of Peregrine. Mr. Winslow 
and Mrs. White had lost their partners during 
the prevailing sickness. The marriage cere- 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 201 

raony was performed by a magistrate after the 
Dutcli fashion. This was the first marriage, 
and must have been quite an event of interest 
in the little, struggling community. 

When the planting was all done and the 
honeymoon over, Mr. Winslow, with Stephen 
Hopkins as his associate, was sent on an im- 
portant errand for the colony. They were 
intrusted with a message to Massasoit, whose 
country they wished to see, and whose friend- 
ship they wished still further to cultivate. 
Squanto accompanied them as guide and 
interpreter. The message with which they 
were charged was in substance this : To assure 
the King of the continued love and good-will 
of the Governor and his people ; to present 
him with a horseman's coat of red cotton with 
lace trimmings, and a copper chain for his neck ; 
to tell him that his people came to Plymouth 
in great numbers — men, women, and children — 
and were burdensome and annoying^ and to re- 
quest him to restrain them ; to assure him that 

he would be welcome himself at any time, and 
13 



202 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

all those whom he might send ; and, that they 
might know who were his messengers, to ask 
him to send the copper chain, by which the 
messenger would be known, and treated with 
becoming honor and attention ; they were to 
desire the King to exchange with them some 
seed corn, that the colonists might experiment 
with it, in order to get that v/hich was best fitted 
to their soil; lastly, they were to tell the King 
about the corn which they liad taken at Corn- 
hill, on Cape Cod, and that the Nauset Indians 
who owned it were so afraid of tlie white men 
that they could not arrange the payment ; they 
were therefore to ask the King to send a mes- 
senger to the Kausets to open the way for the 
desired settlement. 

With this message and the presents, Winslow 
and Hopkins set out at nine o'clock in the morn- 
ing of July second. The first night they slept 
in the open field, about eight miles beyond 
Namasket, now Middleborough. On their way 
they were beset by many of Massasoit's people. 
Some had been to the sea-shore, and were laden 



YiEws FEOM Plymouth Eock. 203 

with lobsters and other fish ; some were fishing 
in the streams. They all " pestered " the mes- 
sengers until they were " wearied of them." 
At Namasket they were well treated to maizium, 
a coarse corn cake, and with shad boiled with 
musty acorns. They ate heartily of the cake 
and shad, and gave the donors some of the 
food they had brought in their wallets, a return 
gift which all the Indians were sure to expect. 
After they had eaten, the savages desired them 
to shoot some of the crows which were spoiling 
their corn ; and when they saw a few of these 
black thieves brought down by the shot at a 
considerable distance, they were greatly im- 
pressed with the wonderful power of the stran- 
gers. 

The place where they lodged was a summer 
resort of the Indians, on the banks of a river 
running into J^arraganset Bay. There were no 
houses here, but evidences all along the stream 
of the numerous population before the great 
plague, of a few years previous, which had so 
desolated the country. The messengers fol- 



204 Views from Plymouth Rock. 

lowed this river toward the residence of Massa- 
soit, which was upon or near its banks. They 
were attended by six savages from their last 
stopping-place. The whole company, now con- 
sisting of twelve men, came to a ford, where a 
very amusing incident occurred. There were 
two old men, one being sixty years old, liv- 
ing on the opposite bank. These men were 
the only survivors of the plague in this place. 
They skulked in the high grass near the bank 
with their bows. When the other party were 
in the stream, half way ' across, they started 
boldly up, and, " in a shrill voice," commanded 
them to stand, and come no further at their peril 
until they told who they were, and whether 
they were friends or enemies. Our messengers 
admired their valor, answered them civilly, 
and were permitted to cross. The old men 
2^ roved that they were as generous as they were 
brave by setting food before the strangers ; they, 
in return, gave them a bracelet of beads. 

Winslow and Hopkins found their new travel- 
ing companions very kind. When they came 



YiEWs FROM Plymouth Eock. 205 

to streams thej offered to carry them over on 
their backs. Seeing they were weary and al- 
most faint from the excessive heat, they re- 
quested permission to carry their heavy guns oi' 
their extra clothes. These companions at one 
time thought they saw a JSTarraganset Indian, 
one of their bitter enemies ; and, thinking that 
he belonged to a party of that tribe who 
were hovering around to cut them off, they 
were greatly afraid. But' Winslow and Hop- 
kins leveled their guns, telling their friends not 
to fear though there should be twenty of the 
Karragansets. But it proved a false alarm, the 
suspected Indians being of their own nation, and 
mostly unarmed women ; so they eat of the fish 
and drank of the water the women kindly 
offered them, and laughed at their fears. 

Our travelers next paused at a town of 
Massasoit, now called Gardner's Neck, Swansey, 
ate oysters and other fish, and then hurried on 
to the residence of the King himself, in Sowams, 
near what is now Baker's Wharf, Warren, R. I. 

Massasoit was not at home on their arrival ; 



206 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

and as he approaclied a short time after, their 
guide, Squanto, requested them to salute him 
by the discharge of their guns. When they 
took them up to comply with this request the 
women and children ran away in an agony of 
fear, and could not be pacified during the visit. 
When Winslow and Hopkins were seated with 
the King they delivered their message and 
presents, putting the coat on his back and the 
chain about his neck. His savage Majesty was 
very much pleased, and walked proudly forth 
among his followers, who were astonished at 
his splendid attire. Being in this happy mood 
he granted the requests of the messengers in 
every particular, assuring them that he desired 
a lasting peace. Turning with profound dig- 
nity to his followers, he made them a speech, 
saying : " Am I not Massasoit ! Is not such a 
town mine, and the people of it ! and should 
they not bring their furs to the white men for 
trade, according to my command!" To this 
the loyal subjects about him answered that 
there should be peace, and the skins should be 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 207 

brought. The King then named another town, 
to which the same answer was given, thus nam- 
ing thirty towns, a very satisfactory but tedious 
detail to the white men. 

The business being done, the parties lighted 
their pipes and commenced smoking, and a 
general social talk ensued. The savage learned 
much, and with deep interest, concerning King 
James of England ; and when told that his wife 
having died he was now living without any, he 
thought that was the most strange thing of all. 
He told the messengers that he didn't like 
Frenchmen, which no doubt very well agreed 
with their sentiments, and added very em- 
phatically, "I and my people belong to King 
James ! " 

"The high contracting parties" having fin- 
ished their " big talk," lay down together on 
the same bed. 'No supper was offei-ed the 
guests, which was very inhospitable. The 
reason given by his Majesty was a very decisive 
one — he had none. A very poor show of the 
royal condition of one who just before strode 



208 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Rock. 

around so proudly ! The coudi was made of 
planks with a single mat thrown over them, the 
female part of the family sleeping across the 
foot. But another kind of lodgers shared their 
bed, such as infest unclean abodes ; and while 
the Indians sung themselves to sleep with their 
dismal lullaby, the mosquitoes added their un- 
welcome song. So the weary pilgrims obtained 
no sleep. They remained through the next 
day, Thursday, July 15, sharing with forty 
Indians two bass, which one had shot with bow 
and arrow. Though the Indians knew so little, 
they had learned the miserable art of gambling 
for their furs and other valuables. They used 
for this purpose a kind of dice. After another 
sleepless night the messengers turned their faces 
homeward, fainting for want of sleep and food. 
Massasoit seemed sincerely mortified and sorry 
that he had been obliged to entertain them so 
poorly. On their return they were led five 
miles out of the way in search of food ; but 
finding none were so much less able to 
walk. At their lodging place that night the 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 209 

savages gave them part of a shad, and a piece of 
squirrel, which thej called neuxis, and kindly 
hurried off to catch more fish. Having suc- 
ceeded in this, thej returned and gave the hun- 
gry party a full supply, so that they went to 
bed refreshed. ^ In the morning, as soon as they 
awoke, they found an ample breakfast of roast 
fish ready for them ; so that the humble subjects 
of Massasoit proved better entertainers than 
tlieir royal master. Had the savages not 
roasted the fish while their guests were asleep 
they would have continued their journey hun- 
gry, for a thunder-storm suddenly burst upon 
them, accompanied by a fierce wind and heavy 
rain, putting out their fire and making their 
situation very uncomfortable. The night be- 
fore they had sent a messenger to the next 
village to meet them in the morning with food, 
and another had been sent to Plymouth to ap- 
prise their friends of their coming, and of their 
wearied and destitute condition. The storm 
continued, and they arrived at their last halt- 
ing-place exceedingly weary. Here they dis- 



210 YiEWs FROM Plymouth Rock. 

missed the six Massasoit men who had accom- 
panied them as an escort, giving all bnt one 
some present. The slighted one was much 
offended, but was told that he had not been 
quite civil to them on the waj. However, as 
he felt so bad about the matter they gave him 
a trifle, which he acknowledged by offering to- 
bacco. "1^0," replied the pilgrims sharply, 
and in the presence of a large company of 
savages, " we will have none of your tobacco ! 
We know you stole it by the way. If we should 
touch it our God would be angry with us." 
Thus justly did these Christian men deal with 
the Indians. The man who was thus reproved 
was made ashamed before his companions ; but 
so much was he impressed with the goodness of 
the strangers that he followed them toward 
Plymouth, and bore that one of the party whom 
he had before treated unkindly across a river 
on his back. 

Late Saturday night they reached Plymouth, 
" wet, weary, and foot sore." 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 211 



CHAPTEE XY. 

A VISIT OF JUSTICE AND LOVE. 

The Billington boys greatly annoyed the May- 
flower Company. It will be remembered that 
one of them came very near blowing up the 
whole party in Provincetown Harbor. Early 
in the summer of 1621 his brother John wan- 
dered off into the wood, lost his way, and 
blundered about for ^ve days, living on berries, 
and whatever he could find which would sus- 
tain life. At length he came upon an Indian 
plantation twenty miles south of Plymouth. 
They gave him a hospitable reception, but car- 
ried him to the ^N'ausets, the sworn enemies of 
the whites, living around " Cornhill " and " The 
First Encounter." 

Partly to find this boy, and more to arrange 
a payment with the IS'ausets for the seed-corn 
taken at Cornhill, the colonists fitted out their 



212 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

shallop, manned with ten of their company. 
They started on their expedition of justice and 
love about the first of_ August. Billington 
must have had enough of Indian life by this 
time to teach him caution. The voyagers had 
their usual experience. They had but just start- 
ed when a furious storm occurred ; the thunder 
and lightning were terrific, and the rain came 
down with great violence. They put into the In- 
dian harbor of Cwmnaquid^ which the English- 
men afterward called Barnstable. They had 
taken with them as interpreter Squanto, their 
tried friend, and Tokamahamon^ whom Massa- 
soit had recommended to them, and who in other 
service had proved faithful. They met with 
other Indians about the shore, who informed 
them that the boy was further down the Cape. 
Six of the Indians came on board the shallop, 
and six of her crew went on shore. Both par- 
ties were still afraid of each other, so the two 
detachments became pledges for each other's 
safety. Those who had landed were taken be- 
fore their sachem, lyanough, a young man, 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 213 

"but very personable, gentle, and courteous." 
They declared that he did not seem like a sav- 
age except in his dress. He entertained the 
strangers as became his royal dignity, " and his 
cheer was plentiful and various." 

One little incident which happened during 
this interview greatly mortified and grieved the 
white men. An old woman, whom they judged 
to be a hundred years of age, came to see them 
because she heard they were Englishmen. She 
had never seen one, but had a sad reason for 
remembering the name. The moment she saw 
them she burst into violent expressions of grief, 
crying, and wringing her hands, and refusing to 
be pacified. Her neighbors said that she once had 
three sons, the supports of her old age and her 
only children. They went with others on board 
of Captain Hunt's ship, six years before, to trade, 
and were carried off and sold into slavery. 
The pilgrims told her that Hunt was a bad 
man, and that all the English despised and con- 
demned him for this act. They gave her some 
small presents, and assured her that they would 



214 Views from Plymouth Kock. 

not wrong any of the people for all the furs of 
the country. The old woman departed with a 
better opinion of white men. 

After the feast the expedition departed, 
lyanough and two of his men accompanying it. 
Having arrived at Nauset just at the close of 
the day, the shallop cautiously kept a little off 
from the shore, sending their interjDreters and 
lyanough to the Nauset chief to inform him of 
their arrival, aud to tell him their errand. 
While these were gone the Nausets came in 
crowds about the boat, which was soon left 
aground by the receding tide. The situation 
of the whites was now critical. These were the 
men who had attacked them in the winter. 
They were not allowed to enter the shallop, 
but they showed no hostile feeling. Massasoit's 
men had taught them a more friendly regard 
for the strangers. One of the Indians was 
introduced as the owner of the corn whicli they 
had taken. They admitted him at once to the 
shallop, treated him with deference, and made 
an arrangement for the payment, to which he 



YiEws FEOM Plymouth Eock. 215 

agreed. This contract they fulfilled, to " the 
full content of all concerned." 

After sunset the IN'auset sachem, Aspinet, 
arrived with a great train, accompanied by the 
lost boy. Fifty of the Indians came to the 
shallop's side, one of them bearing Billington 
on his shoulders. The returned captive was 
"behung with beads," as a sign of good-will, 
and tlie man who had entertained and thus 
honored him was suitably rewarded ; some 
others received small gifts, and all departed in 
peace. But they left behind them a very alarm- 
ing report, namely, that their friend Massasoit 
had been attacked by his enemies, the ISTarra- 
gansets, taken prisoner, his people spoiled, and 
that the victors were probably about to attack 
Plymouth. Those left at this place were few 
and feeble, and our expedition made all speed 
to the rescue. But they seldom could really 
make haste. Head winds drove them again 
into lyanough's country, where they received 
the same kind treatment as before. When they 
did reach home, it was to be confirmed in their 



216 YiEws FROM Plymouth Rock. 

fears bj learning that the alarming report was, 
in part at least, true. 

Massasoit was believed to be in the hands 
of his enemies, and a petty chief by the 
name of Corbitant, a professed friend of 
Massasoit, but a hater of the English, was 
known to be stirring up ill feeling against the 
colony. Squanto, and Hobomok, a war-captain 
and friend of the pilgrims, went out about 
this time to an Indian village fourteen miles 
from Plymouth. Here they found Corbitant, 
who began to taunt them with being friends 
of the strangers, and threatened to kill them. 
Hobomok, who was "a lusty man,'' cleared 
himself from his grasp and ran to the colony 
greatly excited, declaring his belief that Cor- 
bitant had killed Squanto. The chief men of 
the colony were in instant consultation. They 
decided at once that their doty and interest 
required them to rescue, if possible, Massasoit, 
and to avenge the death of Squanto, if he had 
been killed. If they did not do so the Indians 
would despise their weakness and combine to 



Views from Plymouth Eock. 217 

cut them off. They instantly armed twenty of 
their most valiant men, and put them under 
the command of Captain Stan dish. Hobomok, 
having recovered from his fright, and being 
now supported by so strong a party, consented 
to guide them to where Corbitant lay, and point 
him out. 

The next day the detachment set out, and 
encountered the storm which ever attended 
their excursions. They encamped before dark, 
resolving to make the attack at midnight. The 
Captain seems to have learned at once the true 
mode of fighting the savages. Just before start- 
ing they refreshed themselves from their knap- 
sacks, and then hid them away, and laid aside 
every other encumbrance. But their enter- 
prise came very near miscarrying. Hobomok 
missed the way, it being quite dark ; and they 
for awhile groped about, in more danger of 
being taken than of surprising their enemy. 
But one of the white men who had been there 
before found the path. Corbitant's house was 

surrounded. The Captain entered with a small 
14 



218 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

guard and his interpreter, demanding the of- 
fending chief. The women and children were 
instantly in a panic. They were assured that 
they would not be hurt, but must keep still and 
not go out. The young men and boys seeing 
how careful the assailants were not to hurt the 
women, cried out, '' Me woman ! me woman ! ! " 
One woman clung to Hobomok, calling him 
towam — friend. In the confusion, a few, 
attempting to escape from the house, were 
wounded by musket-shots from those without. 
When quiet was restored Standish found that 
Corbitant was not there, but had the day be- 
fore left the place. He was assured, too, that 
Squanto was alive ; and when one of his men 
shouted his name he made his appearance. In 
the morning the villagers came, when they 
understood the purpose of the attack, and 
brought an abundance of food to Standish. 
They were fully impressed by him that Cor- 
bitant and all his followers would be cau2:ht 
and punished, and that all who were the ene- 
mies of Massasoit were also the enemies of the 



Views fkom Plymouth Rock. 219 

white man. Fear seized not only this little 
village, but spread among the chiefs ; and many 
who had kept away came now to beg to be put 
on the list of the friends of the strangers. Cor- 
bitant himself became thoroughly humbled ; 
and before long, by the good offices of Massa- 
soit, was pardoned, and put upon probation for 
good behavior. 

The Standish party expressed their regret 
that any should have been hurt, though they 
received their injury by disobeying them in 
running out. They told the wounded if they 
would go with them to Plymouth their surgeon 
would dress and cure their wounds. A man 
and woman accepted this offer, and were ten- 
derly nursed by the colonists. After breakfast 
at Squanto's house the party returned safely 
home. 



220 YiEws FROM Plymouth Rook. 



CHAPTER XVL 

AN EXCURSION XO THE MASSACHUSETTS. 

An expedition of ten of the colonists was sent 
in September, 1621, to the Massachusetts. 
Squanto accompanied them as interpreter and 
guide, and two other Indians as general assist- 
ants. The Massachusetts were a tribe inhabit- 
ing the vicinity of " Boston " Bay. They re- 
ceived their name, it is said, from the Blue 
Hills which skirted their territory on the south- 
east. The pilgrims wished to know more about 
them and their country, and also to open with 
them friendly relations and a trade in fur. 

The distance by water from Plymouth to 
Boston is about forty-four miles ; but the party 
thought it much less, and so were disappointed 
in anticipating a sail of a few hours only. They 
started in their shallop at midnight, ran by 
" Point Allerton " into "Lighthouse Channel," 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kook. 221 

and, enjoying the sight of the many islands 
around which the deep waters of the bay ebb 
and flow, they sailed across " Quincy Bay," and 
came to anchor, just at night, under the shelter 
of "the Chapel," a pile of rocks at the extrem- 
ity of "Squantum," a peninsula of Quincy, 
where thousands of Sunday-school children now 
go for their summer pic-nics. Captain Stan dish 
took a detachment of men, including his guide, 
Squanto, and went in search of the people and 
their sachem. In the mean time the rest of 
the company, having purchased some lobsters of 
an Indian woman, employed themselves in boil- 
ing them under the cliff, the very place where 
every summer many boys and girls eat their 
lunch, and skip stones, or otherwise amuse them- 
selves. The exploring party found the sachem 
of the place, who acknowledged the rule of 
Massasoit, and, of course, welcomed the stran- 
gers. He said he was leading with his people 
a wandering life, not daring to remain in one 
place for fear of the Tarratines, a fierce tribe 
having their home away off, on the banks of the 



222 Views fkom Plymouth Kock. 

Penobscot Piver. Taking this friendly sachem 
along to introduce them to his superiors fur- 
ther up the bay, the whole party entered the 
shallop, sailed among other and still more at- 
tractive islands, and at length came to anchor 
for the night. They spent the hours of dark- 
ness on board, near what is now the IS^avy Yard 
of Charlestown, where the huge old-fashioned 
ships of the line ride at anchor, and the more 
modern iron-clad steamers and " monitors " are 
" waiting orders." In the morning Standish 
" marched in arms up in the country," on the 
Charlestown side, over the soil across which 
the Bunker Hill Monument now casts its 
shadow. He left two men in the shallop, so 
his army consisted of only eight armed men, 
a force which would not alarm the present city, 
but which was no doubt terrific to the Indians. 
After marching into the vicinity of "Medford " 
they came to the residence of the late King 
N'anepashemet. This sachem was at one time 
the most powerful of all the IS'ew England 
rulers. The terrible Tarratines had made war 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 223 

upon him and driven him from Lynn, where he 
resided. He came here, built on the top of the 
hill a house, whose foundation he placed on a 
platform of poles and planks. It seems to 
have been a citadel, and to this, now in ruins, 
the Standish party had come. Its great chief 
had fallen by the hands of his enemies only two 
years before. Not far from this was an inclosure 
made of stakes driven into the ground with a 
ditch each side of them, and entered by a 
bridge. Within was the frame of a house 
beneath which the great chief lay buried. So 
the party were informed ; and at a spot in West 
Medford, answering to the description of this 
locality, an Indian skeleton was dug up in 1862. 
Some articles, such as the Indians buried with 
their sachems, were found with it, and the re 
mains are thought to be those of the great, once 
powerful, but defeated Nanepashetnet. Kear 
the burying-place our explorers found the house 
in which he was slain, and, tarrying there, sent 
messengers to the frightened and fleeing inhab- 
itants to assure them that they came as friends. 



224: YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

The people came by Squanto's persuasion, shyly 
at first, but afterward with cordiality, setting 
before the strangers such provisions as they 
had. The first who approached were women, 
who, seeing " the gentle carriage " of their 
guests, induced some men to come, who ven- 
tured cautiously, trembling for fear. Their 
Queen, the widow of the late King, who was 
now the " Squaw Sachem," had gone far away 
on the approach of the whites. 

"When the people had gathered in consid- 
erable numbers, the savage, Squanto, advised 
Standish to rob them, take their skins and all 
such things as might be serviceable to the colony, 
justifying this advice by saying that they were 
bad people, and had often threatened the stran- 
gers. This counsel the brave Captain rejected 
with scorn, replying that he did not mind their 
threats, and would not wrong them for any 
thing they could say ; and that it would be 
time enough to punish them when they acted 
unjustly. The women, who seemed to have 
had all the courage, followed the party when 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 225 

they returned to tlie shallop, very desirous to 
trade, and were pacified only by being assured 
.that they would come again for that purpose. 

The explorers remark on leaving, that " The 
savages say there are two rivers, the one where- 
of we saw, having a fair entrance ; but we had 
no time to discover it." These rivers were 
the now famous Charles and Mystic. They 
add, looking at the site of Boston and Charles- 
town, " Better harbors for shipping cannot be 
than here are ;" and one of them exclaims, 
"We wish we had been here seated; but it 
seems the Lord, who assigns to all men the 
bounds of their habitations, had appointed it 
for another use." 

The party reached home in safety, taking 
with them a good quantity of beaver-skins, and 
giving a favorable report of the country. 



226 YiEws FROM Plymouth Rock. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

SUNSHINE AND CLOUDS. 

While some of the colony had been making 
the excursions in the interest of the whole, 
those who had remained at home had been busy 
with the care of the ripening crops, and in 
catching fish upon the coast. Thus their first 
summer passed away. Their harvest of corn 
was abundant. Mindful of the great Giver of 
all their blessings, they set apart a day for 
special thanksgiving. Thus commenced the 
well-known festival of New England, now a na- 
tional holiday. To add to their stock of pro- 
vision for the feast, they sent out four men to 
shoot wild fowl, who obtained enough in this 
time to support the colony for a week. Their 
friend Massasoit came to the feast with ninety 
men, whether by special invitation or presum- 
ing upon his friendly relations is not stated. 



Views from Plymouth Kock. 227 

He stayed there three days, receiving with his 
men the good cheer of the colonists. The 
hunters of this party brought in during the 
time, as the result of their hunting excursions, 
live fat deer to grace the common table. 

The supply not only of sea fowl but of wild 
turkeys was very great during the fall ; which, 
with their harvest of corn and catch of fish, put 
them in fine spirits. But they were soon to 
feel how much they needed this abundance, 
and how quickly want may tread on the steps 
of plenty. 

In the middle of JSTovember their friends, the 
Cape Indians, sent a messenger to inform them 
that a vessel Was on their coast. Soon after a 
sail was seen bearing directly toward Plymouth 
Harbor. As the pilgrims were not expecting a 
vessel from their friends in England, they 
feared it was an enemy come to despoil them 
of their goods and home. They fired the 
alarm-gun to call in the scattered men, and 
made preparations for a brave defense. But it 
proved" to be the ship Fortune, a small craft of 



228 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

fifty-five tons, sent by their friends in England. 
Slie contained thirty-five passengers, among 
whom was their former associate, Robert Cush- 
man, who doubtless brought many welcome 
letters from old friends, and willingly answered 
many questions concerning the fatherland and 
loved ones far away. To Elder Brewster the 
Fortune brought his oldest son, Jonathan, and 
a young man by the name of Thomas Prince, 
who afterward married his daughter Patience. 
To our friend "Winslow it brought a brother, 
John Winslow. 

The Fortune remained about a month, and 
returned laden with good clap-boards, as full as 
she could stow, and two hogsheads of beaver 
and otter skins. Mr. Cushman had come as the 
agent of the adventurers, and returned in her 
according to their instructions. This vessel, 
which was " to give content " to the merchants 
by her valuable cargo, and secure to the colo- 
nists needed supplies of goods for trade with 
the natives, reached the English coast, or at 
least had come so near to her desired haven 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Rock. 229 

that her safety seemed sure, when a French 
armed vessel seized her, carried her to France, 
imprisoned her men, and robbed them of their 
cargo! After fifteen days' detention they re- 
turned in their despoiled vessel to England. 

Most of the thirty-five passengers by the 
Fortune were ^' lusty men," but not of the 
character of those who came in the Mayflower. 
The greater part knew not wherefore they had 
come. They were insufficiently provisioned 
on shipboard, and when they arrived at the 
Cape were in a mutinous spirit toward the 
captain. They came empty-handed and poorly 
clothed. In fact, they were mostly a set of 
paupers, thrown upon the charity of the pil- 
grims. With the number of mouths to be filled 
so increased, and the winter coming on, in 
which but little addition could be made to 
their food, the Governor ordered an exact 
estimate to be made of its amount, and the 
quantity needed until the next harvest sea- 
son. The result was that the whole colony 
was put upon half rations. The new-comers 



230 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

were put to work in aiding the repairs of the 
houses for winter, and in making such addi- 
tions to them as the increased numbers required. 
"When Christmas came, these shirks told Gov- 
ernor Bradford that thej were conscientiously 
opposed to working on that day. " Yery well," 
said the considerate ruler, " we respect men's 
consciences." So the Governor and the old 
colonists went to their labor, leaving their new 
friends to employ themselves as "conscience" 
dictated. Keturning shortly after, they found 
these tender-conscienced brethren havinp; a 
general good time " pitching bars and playing 
ball." ''Now," dryly remarked the Governor, 
" it is against my conscience to allow some men 
to play while others work," and he sent them 
to their several tasks. 

Soon after the Fortune sailed a war-cloud 
appeared on the horizon. The Narragansetts, 
a strong tribe to the south of Massasoit, and his 
bitter enemies, were stirred up by their sachem, 
Canonieus, to fight the white men. The great 
plague of a few years previous had desolated 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 231 

and weakened other tribes, bnt not his. He 
therefore aspired to rnle the country, and con- 
sidered the white men, by their treaties with 
the weaker tribes, to be in his way. He sent a 
messenger to the colony with a rattlesnake's 
skin inclosing a bundle of arrows. The mes- 
senger seemed to be glad that Squanto was not 
at home, as the pilgrims could not understand 
its meaning, and desired to hasten away. But 
Governor Bradford detained him a close pris- 
oner until his interpreter's return. He was 
the more careful to do this, because he had 
heard from friendly Indians that the J^arragan- 
setts were making great preparations to attack 
the colony. Edward Winslow and another of 
the chief men took charge of him that night, 
set food before him, and treated him very kindly, 
but very carefully questioned him to ascertain 
the designs of his master. At first the cunning 
Indian would say but little. But becoming 
sociable at last, he told his keepers that Canon- 
icus was bent on mischief, and that the Indian 
messenger, who had been sent by him last sum- 



232 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 

mer to make peace with the colony, had excited 
his warlike spirit by falsely and unfairly report- 
ing their words. This lying messenger had 
also held up the presents of the pilgrims to the 
sachem as mean and worthless in comparison 
with his to them. 

When Squanto returned and was shown the 
rattlesnake's skin and the arrows, he said at 
once that it was a challenge, and meant war. 

The Governor immediately consulted with 
his chief men, and they decided that their own 
safety, and good faith to their friend Massasoit, 
required that they should not receive the threat 
tamely. So they told the messenger to tell his 
master that they had done him no wrong ; that 
they desired peace, but that if he desired war 
he could have it ; they defied him, and assured 
him that, come when he would, he would find 
them ready. They told him to declare to the 
haughty chief that if they had vessels they would 
come to him at his own home, and save him 
the trouble of coming to them. 

The messenger departed with these defiant 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Rock. 233 

words, glad of liis .liberty, although it was 
storming violently ; but he could not persuade 
Tokamahamon, a friendly Indian who came 
with him, to be the companion of his return 
journey. 

After the messenger had gone the pilgrims 
devised a still stronger expression of their defi- 
ance, and, as it proved, one more weighty than 
words. They took Canonicus's rattlesnake- 
skin, filled it with powder and shot, and sent 
it to him by the hand of a messenger. The 
ignorant savage knew the emptiness of words ^ 
and he, no doubt, held the loud and boastful 
threats of the pilgrims in light esteem ; in fact 
he had cunningly informed himself of the fact 
that the new-comers were unarmed, and added 
nothing to the strength of the colony. But he 
did not understand the mysterious contents of 
that skin ! He was so afraid of it that he would 
not touch it, nor sufier it to remain in his house 
or country. As the messenger refused to take 
it 'back it was timidly taken from place to place, 

and, after a long time, found its way to the 
15 



234 YiEws FROM Plymouth Eook. 

colony, this time a token of the superstitious 
fears of their enemies. 

Though the pilgrims had presented a bold 
face to Canonicus, they felt the importance of 
making every possible exertion to put their 
homes in a strong position of defense. They 
inclosed the settlement, including the top of 
the hill where their cannons were planted, by 
driving stakes into the ground, closely set, so 
that the Indians could neither get through nor 
over them. On each side of this "stockade," 
forts or "jetties" were made to command the 
whole town, in which were gates, guarded by 
day, and kept " with watch and ward " by 
night. 

The toilsome labor of making this fortifica- 
tion was completed before the spring opened, 
though the men worked on short rations. 
Evidently these were no holidays during which 
the men indulged conscientious scruples about 
working, while, in the mean time, Canonicus 
was kept at bay by the innocent rattlesnake's 
skin. 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 235 

This defense being completed, Captain Stand- 
ish, as military commander, divided the armed 
men into fonr companies, appointing a captain 
for each. These he drilled, ordering them at 
times to their posts of duty by an nnexpected 
summons, as if a sudden attack had been 
made. 

Companies of the unarmed men were or- 
ganized to extinguish any fire that might occur, 
with armed guards to defend them against 
Indian treachery while so employed. 

Early in the spring (1622) a trading party 
was fitted out to go to the Massachusetts a second 
time. While preparations were being made, 
Hobomok expressed his fears that this tribe was 
joined with the Narragansetts against the 
colony. He also repeated some whisperings 
which he had heard among the Indians, that 
Squanto, who was so much trusted, and who 
had been so useful to the pilgrims, was in the 
plot, and would, if he went with them, try to 
draw them from their shallop, that the Indians 
might cut them ofi: 



236 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

This was a serious statement, and brought 
the chief men into immediate consultation, 
which resulted in a decision not to be turned 
aside from their trading excursion. They said 
that if they remained shut up within their forti- 
fications it would betray fear ; that a bold front 
was the best policy ; that they needed corn and 
furs which the Indians had to sell; and that, 
being determined to deal justly by all, God 
would defend them. So the shallop set sail. 
But she had not entirely cleared the harbor 
before the alarm-gun from the top of the hill 
brought it back in all haste. The cause of the 
alarm was this : A member of Squanto's family 
rushed in haste into the midst of a party of the 
colonists who were outside the town with a 
bloody face and frightened look, declaring that 
the Narragansetts, who had been joiued by 
Massasoit himself, were only fifteen miles away, 
and were coming with a great army to destroy 
the settlement; and that he had been wounded, 
and had barely escaped with his life, for speak- 
ing in favor of the English. 



Views from Plymouth Rock. 237 

This messenger of evil tidings came panting 
into the Governor's presence, followed by those 
whom he had frightened. If this was true, of 
course all the fighting men would be needed, 
and the shallop was therefore called back. 
But Hobomok declared he believed the whole 
story to be a lie. He was sure Massasoit was 
faithful; besides, he himself was one of his 
" braves," and would be consulted before such a 
step was taken. 

This was the opinion of the pilgrims ; but 
they thought that the utmost prudence became 
them at such a critical time. So they com- 
missioned Hobomok to send his wife to Massa- 
soit's home as a spy, that they might assure 
themselves of the facts. This woman messen- 
ger did her errand skillfully ; and, finding the 
suspected, or rather falsely accused, chief at 
home, and in quiet with his people, she frankly 
told him why she had come. He was much 
grieved at the report, and thanked the colonists 
for their prudent course, and for their confidence 
in him. 



238 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 

It was ascertained at length that Squanto 
was acting a double part, for his own ambitious 
and wicked ends. He started this lying story 
to cause the pilgrims to march, in the first ex- 
citement of the alarm, into Massasoit's country, 
and attack him, and thus break up the league. 
Then he hoped to act as a peace-maker, and so 
make both parties more dependent upon him. 
Before this he had made many of the Indian 
chiefs think that he could at any time make 
the English their friends or enemies, so they 
went to him for favors in these matters even 
more than to Massasoit, and he became lifted 
up with the idea of being a great man. He 
finally crowned his lying plans by circulating 
the story among the poor natives that the whites 
kept the plague buried in the ground, and could 
send it among them when they pleased. 

The pilgrims found out the true character of 
Squanto by sharp inquiries and shrewd man- 
agement. The Governor took Hobomok into 
special intimacy, and Captain Standish, Squan- 
to; thus the jealousies between these Indians 



Views feom Plymouth Rock. 239 

were used to give the whites more accurate 
information. 

When Squanto's villainy was found out his 
plots were exposed to the Indians, a flat denial 
given to the story about the plague, and he was 
sharply reproved by the Governor. He escaped 
the severe punishment he deserved because the 
colony had been so greatly indebted to his 
services as an interpreter, and because they 
could not yet well do without him. 

The fears of the pilgrims having been re- 
moved, the shallop made her proposed visit to 
"Boston Harbor," and returned safely, well 
laden with corn and furs. 

On their return they found Massasoit at the 
settlement. He had come to renew his as- 
surance of peace, and to demand Squanto for 
punishment. The Governor said he ought to 
die, but begged his chief to spare him as a favor 
to the English, who could not well do without 
him. At this the chief went away, satisfied for 
the time. But he soon sent a messenger for 
him, whom the pilgrims sent back with another 



240 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Rock. 

request for Squanto's life. At this the sachem, 
who well understood his rights under the treaty, 
posted to the colony a messenger with several 
strong men, who said his master had sent 
demanding Squanto, and that he had come 
with Massasoit's knife to cut off Squanto's 
head and hands to carry back to him. Massa- 
Boit had commanded him to say, that although 
the English had agreed to give up Squanto, and 
that he deserved to die, yet as he was so 
useful to the white men he would give many 
furs for him. The Governor refused the skins, 
saying they did not sell men's lives, but would 
not refuse to see any punished as they deserved. 
So Squanto was brought forward, and faced the 
messenger and his bloody knife with an Indian's 
defiance, telling the Governor to do with him 
as he pleased. The Governor felt that he 
could not justly save him, and his head was 
just about to roll in the dust, when word came 
to the Governor that a ship was nearing Ply- 
mouth Harbor. Great fears were entertained 
of French combinations with the savages against 



YiEws FEOM Plymouth Rock. 241 

the colony, so the Governor told the messenger 
he would wait until he knew what the ship 
was before he delivered up Squanto. At this 
the messenger, vexed at such trifling delays, 
departed in great rage, and the guilty escaped. 



242 Views from Plymouth Kock. 



CHAPTEE XYIII. 

SEARCH AFTER CORN. 

The reported "ship" proved to be a shallop 
with seven men in it. They belonged to a 
vessel called the Sparrow, then lying with other 
vessels at a fishing station on the coast of Maine. 
The shallop brought letters to the pilgrims from 
the fatherland. Many tears were no doubt shed 
over them ; but none of the old " comers " re- 
gretted that they came to America. Mr. Wes- 
ton, the "• promising " merchant, who had now 
sent the Sparrow on a trading voyage, and who, 
it will be remembered, had talked such fair 
things to the pilgrims before they left Leyden, 
by letters made great complaints that no cargo 
had been sent by the Mayflower. Yet he re- 
peated his promises not to forsake the colony in 
its time of need. We shall see how he kept 
his word. 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 243 

The pilgrims were now, about the first of 
June, very short of provisions. The fowl had 
left the coast for the summer. Fish was 
plenty ; but, strange enough, they were poorly 
supplied with the means of taking them. The 
new-comers had eaten the reserved stock of 
corn. The visitors had brought only enough 
for their return trip to the eastern coast. > In 
this extremity Winslow was sent in the pil- 
grim shallop to accompany the other boat and 
buy a supply of corn, if possible, of the fisher- 
men. They were encouraged to do this by a 
letter which the captain of the fishing-boat, a 
stranger to them, had sent, in which he ex- 
pressed much good-will. This letter had also 
informed them that nearly all of the Yirginia 
Colony had been massacred by the Indians. 

Winslow's voyage was very successful. 
Captain Hnddleston, who had sent the kind 
letter, received him cordially, and he and 
other captains of fishing vessels supplied him 
with all the provisions they could spare. 
When "Winslow demanded the price, the noble- 



244 Views feom Plymouth Rock, 

hearted sailor replied, "[N^othing; I am only 
sorry I cannot serve you to better advantage. 
I have heard of the noble struggles of your 
people, and would show my respect for them." 

The corn thus obtained served to give each 
member of the colony a small quantity until 
harvest. 

On the first of July (1622) there came two 
trading vessels to Plymouth, called the Charity 
and Swan. They brought sixty men, sent out 
by Mr. "Weston to found a colony in his in- 
terest. With few exceptions they were rough, 
unprincipled men. They did not bring their 
wives and children to make themselves homes 
in the wilderness for the purpose of serving 
God in peace. They neither feared God nor 
regarded man. 

These men were kindly entertained by the 
pilgrims, although they had no reason to feel 
under any obligations to their old acquaintance, 
Mr. "Weston. The Charity, the larger vessel, 
having landed her passengers, left for Virginia. 
The Swan, taking a few of the chief men of the 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 245 

late comers, went into tlie bay along the soutli- 
ern shore to find a place for locating the colony. 
In the mean time, those who were left to live 
on the hospitality of the pilgrims abused their 
generosity without shame or concealment. 
"While professing to aid in cultivating the 
now ripening corn, they stole and wasted the 
tender ears. They scoffed at the religious 
teachings of the pilgrims, and derided them 
behind their backs. While they were acting 
thus wickedly the colony was being reduced 
to a state of starvation by the effort to enter- 
tain them. 

After awhile, much to the relief of the 
Plymouth people, the Swan returned and took 
them up the bay to a place which the Indians 
called Wessagusset, since known as Wey- 
mouth. Here they soon succeeded in getting 
the ill-will of the whole Indian neighborhood, 
and complaints were constantly brought to the 
pilgrims of their unjust and provoking con- 
duct. But they could only instruct Squanto to 
tell them that they were not of their company, 



246 YiEws FEOM Plymouth Kock. 

but wicked men for whose behavior they could 
not be responsible. 

The summer was wearing away, the crop of 
corn, which had been neglected in consequence 
of war's alarms and the duties of an unrewarded 
hospitality, and wasted also by reckless guests, 
did not promise to be large. What could be 
done ? A wise foresight was one of the marked 
traits of the pilgrim character, and their plan- 
ning was wonderfully blessed by God's provi- 
dential care. Just now, in the closing days of 
August, came two more vessels to Plymouth, 
the Discovery and Sparrow : the first was com- 
manded by Captain Jones, late of the May- 
flower, and the latter was the vessel belonging 
to Weston, just returned from bearing to En- 
gland her freight of fish. Both were bound to 
Virginia. The pilgrims contrived to buy of 
Jones with their furs needed articles for trade 
with the Indians, such as knives and beads. 
They were entirely out of these, and without 
them they could not add to their supply of corn, 
and so must be driven to an alarming strait. 



Views from Plymouth Eock. 247 

Jones seems to have taken advantage of 
their necessities, for they speak of paying an 
unusual price for his goods. Being thus in a 
condition to trade, the Governor started an en- 
terprise for that purpose. The Wessagusset 
Colony, having received a new supply of goods 
by the return of Weston's ship, Charity, were 
admitted into partnership in the trading excur- 
sion. The Swan, belonging to that colony, and 
the shallop of the pilgrims, commanded by 
Captain Standish, were about to start, when the 
Captain of the Swan was taken suddenly sick 
and died. Having delayed to give him fitting 
burial the vessels attempted to start, but were 
driven back by a violent storm. A second time 
they start, and a second time are driven back. 
On reaching the shore Standish was taken 
seriously ill, and was obliged to abandon the voy- 
age. Governor Bradford then took command, 
and the two vessels set sail, with Squanto, who 
had made peace with Massasoit, as an interpreter. 
They passed around the end of Cape Cod, and 
voyaged southward toward the Yineyard Sound. 



248 YiEWs FROM Plymouth Eock. 

But Squanto was a poor pilot. They seemed 
to have gone no farther than the shore of Chat- 
ham, and landed for the night, intending to 
push on, after awhile, further south. The 
natives were at first shy, abandoning their 
houses, and carrying off all their stores of coiti. 
With much effort Squanto succeeded in con- 
ciliating them, so that the Governor and his 
company obtained comfortable quarters for the 
night, intending to open a trade the next day. 
But a sad bereavement awaited them. On the 
morrow Squanto was suddenly attacked with a 
violent disease, and died. Before his death he 
desired the Governor to pray that he might go 
"to the Englishman's God in heaven.'^ He 
calmly requested that various articles of his 
might be given to certain English friends as a 
token of his love. 

Squanto's death was sincerely lamented by 
the pilgrims. Though often erring, he had ren- 
dered them service of great value; and, accord- 
ing to the light of his savage state, had left a 
name to be remembered with charity and respect. 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Rock. 249 

Tbns failing in a guide and pilot the vessels 
returned around the Cape, and sailed to the 
Massachusetts tribe which had promised to have 
much corn for them after harvest time. In this 
promise they failed, partly by the bad feeling ex- 
cited among the Indians by the Weston Colony. 
So Governor Bradford sailed away again for 
Cape Cod, and lauded among his old acquaint- 
ance, the N^ansets, at Eastham. Aspinet, their 
chief, treated the party well, and they purchased 
ten hogsheads of corn and beans. While these 
provisions were being gathered at the shore to 
be put on board the Swan, the shallop coasted 
along what is now Yarmouth and Barnstable, 
where they found kind treatment and good 
trade. But the ever attending discipline of 
seemingly adverse circumstances followed the 
pilgrims on this voyage. They encountered a 
fierce storm, and their shallop was cast, a sad 
wreck, upon the shore. The Swan was also 
much injured, and as it could not lie near 
the shore in consequence of the sand-flats, and 

they now had no boat, their purchase of pro- 
16 



250 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 

visions could not be put aboard. In this ex- 
tremity they piled it up much as the salt hay is 
now stacked on our sea-coasts, and bought 
mats and cut sedge to cover it. They hired 
an Indian living near to try to protect it from 
the vermin. The sachem, in the mean time, 
sent men to find the shallop, who reported that 
it lay high upon the beach, much broken, and 
partly buried in the sand, and containing some 
valuable things which could not now be brought 
away. The pilgrims could do nothing better 
than leave all these things, with their purchases 
further along the coast, in charge of the sachem 
Aspinet, who undertook to see that every thing 
was untouched until the owners could return 
to take them away. The Governor promised a 
reward if nothing should be taken, and added a 
little wholesome threatening of what he would 
do if any thing was taken or injured. He then 
procured an Indian guide, and walked with his 
men to Plymouth, a distance of fifty miles, 
where they arrived safely, having received only 
kind treatment on the way. The Swan, with 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Rock. 251 

the other traders, came in three days after. 
The corn thus far obtained being divided, the 
Swan returned to Wessagusset, promising soon 
to retnrn with a ship-carpenter, so that the 
shallop might be repaired and the rest of the 
corn brought home. 

This return voyage was made in January, 
1623, under the command of Captain Standish, 
who was now well. They found nothing in- 
jured nor stolen, a fact not only creditable to 
the Indians, but to the good management of 
Bradford. It is plain that the savages, though 
full of bad passions, had learned to trust as well 
as fear him. 

Standish had brought another shallop, and 
having repaired the old one, with these all the 
corn was shipped, and the shallops being at- 
tached to the stern of the Swan, they set sail 
for Plymouth. But they had not yet received 
the customary trial of their faith and patience. 
A storm arose, " and the sea wrought and was 
tempestuous," so that they were obliged to cut 
both shallops adrift, and let them drive ashore. 



252 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

But, strange to say, when the storm was over 
they were both found, after considerable seek- 
ing, high and dry, but not injured. While 
ashore, getting off their boats, some articles were 
for the first time stolen from them. The Cap- 
tain made it a point of honor not to allow this ; 
so he marched a company of his men to Aspi- 
net's house, telling him what had been done, 
giving him until the morrow to return the thief 
or the stolen goods. He then refused all cour- 
tesies, and returned to his shallop for the night, 
leaving the Indians to expect punishment if his 
demand was not complied with. 

In the morning the chief and his men came 
to the Captain with much parade. He ap- 
proached with his tongue thrust from his 
mouth until the roots could be seen, licking 
his hand from his wrist to his fingers' end. He 
added to this Indian ceremony an awkward at- 
tempt at the English bow, which Squanto had 
taught him. His whole company united in the 
licking and bowing, and the pilgrims, though 
transacting a serious business, " could scarce for- 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 253 

bear breaking out into open laughter." The 
salutation being over, the stolen articles were re- 
turned, with many professions of honest pur- 
poses and good feeling, to which the women in 
the company added some good fresh baked 
bread. So the traders departed in fine spirits, 
arrived at Plymouth in safety, and divided 
their purchases as before. 

After this Governor Bradford went for corn 
to Manomet, now Sandwich, on Buzzard's Bay. 
The sachem, Cawnacome, was very friendly. 
When he was entertaining the Governor and 
a part of his company one bitter cold and 
stormy night, a little incident occmTed which 
illustrates the character and habits of the In- 
dians of that time. Two Indians came through 
the darkness, cold, and storm to Cawnacome's 
wigwam, as messengers from the Chatham 
sachem. They seated themselves at the fire, 
and took out their pipes and smoked. 'Not a 
word was spoken by any one. At length one 
of them arose and delivered a present to Cawn- 
acome with the compliments of his chief, which 



254: YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 

were duly acknowledged by his Indian Majesty. 
Then followed a long speech by the messen- 
ger, in which the errand from his master was 
made known. This was interpreted by Hobo- 
mok for the benefit of the English visitors. 
The case was this : Two of the Chatham chiefs 
men had gambled, and, as has ever been the 
case with" gamblers, having gambled they grew 
very angry, and in their excitement fell to 
fighting, and one of them was killed on the 
spot. The murderer happened to be a powoh ; 
that is, a priest and " medicine man," of much 
influence, and one whom the chief could not 
well spare. But another people, stronger than 
his, threatened to make war with him unless 
the ofiender was executed. In this perplexity 
he had sent to Cawnacome for advice, keeping, 
in the mean time, the guilty man in close con- 
finement. 

The case having been thus stated there was 
another long silence. At length Cawnacome's 
counselors gave their advice, after which Ho- 
bomok was requested to give his. He modestly 



Views from Plymouth Rock. . 255 

replied that lie was but a stranger, yet he would 
say that as the prisoner was clearly guilty, it 
was better that he should die than many in- 
nocent men who would be killed in the threat- 
ened war. This sensible advice was appreciated 
by the chief, who gave his decision for the 
death of the prisoner. 

The next excursion after corn was made in 
February, by Captain Standish, to Barnstable. 
The first night after his arrival in the harbor 
his shallop was frozen up. The weather was 
bitter cold and stormy ; and, as the Indians 
were even more free than ever in their pro- 
fessions of friendship he lodged in their houses, 
and obtained large quantities of corn. But 
strange Indians were visiting the chief, " and 
God possessed the heart of the Captain with a 
just jealousy." He commanded that while one 
part of his men were asleep others should wake, 
giving hints to them which he understood but 
did not explain. While this was going on 
some of the Indians stole some beads from him. 
Taking six armed men, the Captain immediate- 



256 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

Ij surrounded the wigwam of the chief, where 
most of his men were, and demanded the 
restoration of the stolen goods, threatening 
speedy punishment if it were not done. 

Seeing his earnestness, the sachem set about 
an immediate inquiry into the matter, and 
reported that the Captain had better search 
more dihgently about his shallop, and see if they 
were not where he left them. Sending men 
for this purpose, they ascertained that the wily 
savage had caused the beads to be returned, 
and laid upon the boat's cuddy. To further 
appease the Captain's anger they brought more 
corn for trade, so that he returned to Plymouth 
laden with a full cargo, having left a whole- 
some fear of the settlers in the minds of the 
Indians. 

But the Captain's search after corn was not 
ended, nor were his "perils among the heathen." 
He made, soon after, a shallop voyage to Mano- 
met (Sandwich) for the corn the Governor had 
before purchased, and to trade still more. 
Having left his boat at the shore with three 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 25T 

men, he went with three others to the house of 
his old acquaintance, the chief Cawnacome. 
He had not been long there before several 
Massachusetts Indians came in, the principal 
of whom was a noted villain named Wituwamat. 
He had already killed both English and French, 
and talked loudly of his own bravery and their 
weakness, especially deriding the fact, as he 
said, that '' they died crying, making sour faces, 
more like children than men." 

The savage made a fluent and flourishing 
speech to Cawnacome, waving at times a dag- 
ger which he had bought of Weston's men. 
Standish did not at this time understand his 
talk, but could well perceive that it meant 
no good-will to the English. It plainly in- 
creased in the mind of the chief the orator's 
consequence, and sympathy for his plans, and 
caused the Standish party to be treated coldly. 
There was present also a stout IS'auset Indian who 
had not been very friendly to the colony. He 
now professed very great love for them, making 
the Captain a present of a kettle, saying he 



258 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Kook. 

was rich and could afford it, and that it was 
nothing between friends. It was very cold, 
and the wind was blowing a fresh breeze, so 
that the Captain could not get off. The In- 
dians, with well-feigned kindness, desired the 
Captain to bring all his men from the boat and 
lodge them in their huts. But he would not ; 
requesting on his part that the women, who 
were the burden-bearers of the nation, should 
carry his corn to the shallop. This they did, 
the ]S"auset Indian helping them, and declaring 
at the same time that he never did such a 
menial service before, but would- now, to show 
his abundant love for the whites. 

All this pretext of friendship could not blind 
the keen-eyed Stan dish. The truth was this : 
Wituwamat had told Cawnacome that his tribe 
had formed a league with several other tribes 
to kill, by a sudden attack, all of Weston's men, 
and that fearing the Plymouth people would 
revenge their death, they intended to cut them 
off too, and that now was a good time to kill 
their great chief, and the men wlio were witli 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 259 

him. The smooth-tongued Nauset man was to 
lodge with Standish, dispatch him while he 
slept, and Wituwamat and his men were to 
slay the others. A fine plan, easier made than 
executed. The I^auset did indeed lodge with 
the Captain, but could not catch him napping. 
Standish either sat by the fire or walked about 
the cabin. His wakefulness gave his friend 
much concern, and he kindly solicited him to 
take his needed rest. 

Thus his enemies not getting a chance to 
take him unawares, Standish escaped, and re- 
turned safely with his load of corn. But the 
plot of Wituwamat was not abandoned, being 
pursued to its bloody termination. But before 
giving the details of its prosecution let us ac- 
company Winslow and Hamden on a truly 
Christian mission. 



260 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

THE SICK SACHEM. 

While Standish was at Manomet news came 
to the Plymouth Colony that Massasoit was 
dangerously sick. He had, as we have showu, 
grown cold in his love for his English friends, 
through the subtle lies of his and their enemies. 
Now was the time, the pilgrims thought, to 
show him the value of their friendship. Be- 
sides, the chief would expect this, it being the 
practice of the Indians to visit their friends 
and neighbors in their sickness, unless it was an 
infectious disease ; in that case they fled from 
them. These visits were often visits of mere 
ceremony, or, at best, of sympathy only, not of 
aid ; but the pilgrims determined to make theirs 
one of real benefit to body and soul. So the 
Governor ordered Edward Winslow, accom- 
panied by John Hamden, a visitor from Lon- 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 261 

don at tlie colony, to take medicines and go to 
the Chief, bearing assurances of sincere concern 
for his welfare. Hobomok went with them as 
a guide. 

There was, besides, another reason for this 
visit. A Dutch ship was aground in the har- 
bor, near Massasoit's house, and they thought 
she would not be able to get off until another 
course of high tides. The pilgrims wished to 
have some communications with them. 

The messengers set off, and arrived at noon 
of the following day in the country of Corbit- 
ant, ^ chief who was subject to Massasoit. 
Here they were told that Massasoit was dead 
and buried that day! This was indeed sad 
news to Winslow and his party. Corbitant 
was the successor of Massasoit, and was the 
man against whom Standish, accompanied by 
Winslow, had made war when they thought 
he had killed Squanto. They were now in his 
hands as the supreme ruler if Massasoit was 
dead. Perhaps he would seek to be revenged 
for their attack. After some consultation the 



262 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 

messengers resolved to go to Corbitant's house, 
three miles further into his country. They 
determined to show no fear, but try to form a 
true and sincere friendship between him and 
the colony. 

On the way Hoboraok broke out into loud 
and eloquent lamentations for his chief. 
'' Neen womasu sagimus ! Neen womasu sagi- 
mus!'^'' he exclaimed; "My loving sachem! 
My loving sachem ! " " Many have I known, 
but never any like thee ! " Turning to Wins- 
low, he said, " While you live you will never 
see his like among the Indians. He was no 
liar; he was not bloody nor cruel; in anger 
and passion he was soon pacified ; he was ready 
to forgive those who offended him ; he so ruled 
by reason that he did not scorn the advice of 
humble men; he governed better with few 
stripes than other sachems with many ; he was 
truly loving where he loved ; and there is not 
another true friend of the English left among 
the Indians." 

Winslow adds, " He continued a long speech 



Views feom Plymouth Kock. 263 

with siicli signs of lamentation and unfeigned 
sorrow as would have made the hardest heart 
relent." 

The party now arrived at Corbitant's house, 
but found only his wife, " the squaw sachem," 
at home. Here they were told that they did 
not Icnow that Massasoit was dead, but thought 
he was. This inspired hope, and Winslow 
hastened a messenger to learn the truth, who 
returned about sunset, saying that he was not 
dead, but could not long live. The Winslow 
party then started, and arrived late at night at 
the bedside of the savage King. They found 
his house full of men, making noise enough "to 
distemper those who were well, and therefore 
unlike to ease him that was sick." The women 
were acting more sensibly by rubbing him 
vigorously to excite a more free circulation of 
the blood. 

When quiet was secured one whispered to 
the sick man that the English had come. 
Though he could not see, he faintly asked who 
had come. They answered, " Winsnow." He 



264 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eook. 

then desired Win slow to come near. As the 
latter took his hand he feeblj whispered, " Keen 
Winsnow f " — " Art thou Winsnow 1 " 

On being told he was, the sick man added, 
" O, Winsnow, I shall never see thee again ! " 

Hobomok was called, who interpreted the 
Governor's message of condolence ; and he told 
him, too, that Winslow had been sent with 
medicines to cure him, if possible, and inquired 
if he would take them. Winslow then ex- 
amined his patient, and proceeded to wash 
his mouth, and to give him restoratives after 
the English fashion. He also dispatched a 
messenger to Plymouth with a note for pre- 
scriptions and medicines from Dr. Fuller. In 
the mean time Winslow's treatment was won- 
derfully successful. The King opened his eyes, 
and was able to recognize those about him. 
After a short time he made Winslow promise 
that he would go out the next day and kill a 
fowl, and make broth for him after the English 
fashion. A few hours after he concluded he 
could not wait for the fowl, but must have the 



I 



Views from Plymouth Eock. 265 

broth without it. This puzzled Winslow, but 
not wishing to confess any ignorance or want 
of skill, he took a little pounded corn and 
boiled it with some sassafras root and straw- 
berry leaves, which were procured in the vicin- 
ity; with these he made a mixture which he 
strained through his handkerchief and gave the 
chief. This he relished well, and revived more 
and more, to the astonishment both of the inex- 
perienced doctor and all the witnessing savages. 

In the morning the kind chief sent Winslow 
through his neighborhood to treat his sick 
people in the same manner, saying, "They are 
good folks." This Winslow did, though "the 
poisonous savors " among the sick savages "were 
very offensive." 

After Winslow had eaten dinner, the King 
had recovered his appetite so far that he was 
in great haste to have him go out and shoot a 
duck or goose, and make him some English 
"pottage." A fat duck was soon procured, 
and the broth made, which Winslow com- 
manded Hobomok to skim and weaken, to suit 



266 Views from Plymouth Kock. 

it to the state of the sick man's stomach. But 
this skimming and weakening Massasoit would 
not allow by any entreaties and warnings, but 
he made a meal of the rich broth sufficient for 
a well man. The consequence was, that it was 
soon thrown up with such violent strainings 
that his nose began to bleed freely. This con- 
tinued, in spite of Winslow's efforts to stop it, 
for four hours. He and his friends were now 
greatly alarmed, and lamented his unwilling- 
ness to receive advice, and looked upon his 
death as certain. But the bleeding was finally 
stopped, though for many hours occasionally 
recurring. 

The messengers were now returned with Dr. 
Fuller's orders and restoratives; and, as the 
patient was more submissive to medical treat- 
ment, he soon recovered. 

Before Winslow and his party left, Massasoit 
took Hobomok aside, and before a few of his 
" braves " only, gave him the following message 
to deliver to Winslow on his way home : " The 
Massachusetts are determined to kill Weston's 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 26Y 

men ; their plan is all made ; many nations 
have agreed to join them ; they intend to kill all 
the Plymouth men too ; they have been here to 
get me to join, but I refused, and will not let 
any under me do so ; your great Captain must 
strike quick and kill them first. You will say, 
' It is not our custom to do any people harm un- 
til they begin ;' but that will not bring Weston's 
men to life after they are dead ; and besides, 
they may be too strong for you after they have 
had some victory ; you must go to Wessagusset 
quick, and cut off the heads of the leaders, and 
the rest will submit, and you will have peace." 

Having given this message to Hobomok, he 
returned to Winslow and gave him the warm- 
est expressions of thanks, and sent a long and 
glowing acknowledgment to Governor Brad- 
ford. He said to Winslow, "JS'ow I see the 
English are my friends, and love me, and while 
I live I will never forget this kindness they 
have shown me." 

On their way home the party tarried all night 
with Corbitant. ''He was a noted politician, 



268 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

yet full of Ills merry jests and squibs, and 
never better pleased than when the like were 
returned upon him." He asked "Winslow 
whether, if he was sick, the Governor would 
send him with medicine, and whether, if he 
should do so, he would come. When Winslow 
answered yes to both these questions the coun- 
tenance of the savage brightened, and he was 
much pleased. He then asked Winslow how 
they dared, only two white men, to come so far 
from home. 

^' Why," replied Winslow, " it is because we 
are honest, and Jove the Indians, and as our 
hearts are right we are not afraid." 

"Then why," quickly retorted the savage, 
" do your people, if they love the Indians, keep 
such strict guard when they come to Plymouth, 
and point their guns at them ? " 

He replied, " That is the way we honor our 
friends ;" and Hobomok tried to help out the 
apology by saying that he had seen the white 
people fire their big guns both on the land and 
sea in honor of their friends. 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Rock. 269 

Corbitant shook his head doubtinglj, and 
said, " I like not such honor." He then in- 
quired why the pilgrims prayed to their God 
before they ate, and then again after their 
meals. This gave Winslow such an opportu- 
nity as the pilgrims always improved to pre- 
sent to the benighted heathen mind the truth 
about God. He told him that God gave all 
our good things, and so they thanked him. 
He explained other Bible truth, and repeated 
the Ten Commandments. Corbitant said he 
liked all but the seventh. At that he shook 
his head, saying that " Indians think it no good 
to have one wife only.'''' 

The next day, when the party were about 
half way home, Hobomok delivered Massasoit's 
message of warning concerning Wituwamat 
and the other conspirators. This hastened their 
steps. When within a few miles of Plymouth 
they heard that Standish had gone with the 
shallop on a ti-ading voyage to the Massachu- 
setts. But when they reached the town they 
were glad to learn that an unfavorable wind 



270 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

liad caused his return. They found with the 
Captain the fair-speaking, lying Nauset, who 
had tried to catch him asleep at Manomet, and 
who was now urging a voyage to the Massa- 
chusetts, where the plotters thought themselves 
strong enough to cut him off. 

When Winslow had delivered Massasoit's 
warning the pilgrims thought it was time for 
them to act ; and when they thus thought they 
neither slept nor trifled. They decided that it 
was time for Standish to be upon the war-path. 



Views from Plymouth Kock. 271 



CHAPTER XX. 

STANDISH ON THE WAR-PATH. 

The situation of Weston's Colony grew worse 
and worse. They had commenced with great 
boastings. Being composed of men only, they 
scoffed at the pilgrim settlement because it 
was composed in part of women and children, 
which they said made a weak community. 
They sneered also at their " pious notions," and 
declared that they, at Wessagusset, would show 
them how to make a settlement. As a ground 
for this boasting they had sixty men, while there 
were only nineteen left of the Mayflower men, 
with the not very efficient additions of later 
comers. The Weston Colony had also started 
with a fair supply of provisions, and a good 
stock of goods for trading. Thus feeling that 
they lacked nothing, they were idle and vainly 
confident. At one time a minister of Christ 



2T2 Views fkom Plymouth Rock. 

from a new settlement further up the bay went 
to preach to them. He was in his sermon try- 
ing to impress upon them that the chief end 
of settling in this Western wilderness was the 
glory of God in the conversion of the heathen. 
A member of the congregation, more blunt than 
religious, exclaimed, " You forget, sir, where you 
are. You are not preaching to the Plymouth 
Colony. The chief aim of our coming here was 
to catch fish." 

Having this low aim they acted accordingly. 
They wasted their precious time, and, as it 
proved, very precious supplies. They soon 
began to be in want, and hunger knocked at 
the doors of their cabins. They sold their gar- 
ments for food, and finally meanly sold their 
service as servants to the Indians. They 
brought their water and gathered their wood 
for morsels of corn. Of course the savages 
despised them. Having bought what they had 
to spare, they came, when the white men had 
lain down, and took from under them their last 
blanket. When they had gathered nuts and 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 2Y3 

roots, and had them boiling for a poor hut 
necessary pottage, the Indians came, took it 
from the fire, and ate it before their eyes. 
But the Weston people had commenced the 
stealing. Being destitute and starving, some 
of their number had dug up the buried corn 
of the Indians, making them very angry, and 
causing them to make complaints to the Gov- 
ernor. To pacify the savages the thieves were 
whipped, put into " the stocks," and finally one 
of them was hanged. But this did not stop the 
stealing, and so did not appease the savages. 

In this state of things John Sanders, their 
Governor, sent to Plymouth for advice. He 
said that his men proposed in their extremity 
to tdke^ by force, a supply of corn from the 
Indians. To this the pilgrims replied, that 
such an act was forbidden by God's law ; that 
the Weston people were few, sick, and, of course, 
very feeble, and might not succeed in getting 
possession of the corn, and, in the end, would 
be sure to be cut off; finally they advised them 
to try to live honestly, as the Pilgrim Colony 



274 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Rock. 

itself was then trying to do, on ground-nuts, 
clams and other shell-fish. 

Sanders, on receiving this advice, abandoned 
the counsel of his violent companions, and 
sailed with his vessel to the fishermen on the 
coast of Maine, calling, on his way, at Ply- 
mouth. After he left, the Weston men scat- 
tered about the country, and some of them died 
of want. 

While such was their condition the whole 
Plymouth Colony were in public consultation 
concerning the Indian plots. Two chiefs whom 
Wituwamat had drawn into his interests had 
become afraid of the consequences; and, to 
save themselves from the wrath of the dreaded 
Standish, had come to the colony and exposed 
the scheme. The facts were clear. The In- 
dians were determined on war. The pilgrims 
believed themselves a true government, or- 
dained of God to be " a terror to evil doers," 
as they had already proved themselves "the 
praise" of them that did well. The general 
court of the people authorized the Governor 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 275 

and his Council, with Captain Standish, to meet 
the case according to their best wisdom, and 
in the fear of God. Thus commissioned, the 
Governor sent Standish to Wessagusset. The 
Captain refused more than eight men, though 
many offered to accompany him. He desired 
not to excite suspicion. 

But the day before he was to start a poor 
fugitive from Wessagusset reached Plymouth. 
His name was Phineas Pratt. He came weary, 
frightened, and hungry, with a pack on his 
back, and with a pitiful tale. He feared his 
people would be killed to a man. He had 
purposed a week since to escape, but the sav- 
ages knew his purpose, and told him if he did 
the wolves or bears would eat him on the way. 
He knew what they meant by this, but made 
the attempt. An Indian wolf was put on his 
track, and would soon have destroyed him if 
Pratt himself had not lost his way. The sav- 
age not finding his victim, passed by Plymouth 
to Manomet. After Pratt had reached Ply- 
mouth, the Indian came back and entered the 



276 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

settlement with special professions of love, but 
really as a spy. He found many women and 
children there, but no weakness nor fear ; and, 
as his character and purpose were known, he 
had the honor of being the first one to be put 
in chains and under guard in the newly-com- 
pleted fort. 

When Standish reached Wessagusset in his 
shallop he first went on board a Weston fishing 
vessel which Sanders had left for the use of his 
men in his absence. But no living thing could 
he find. He fired a gun, which brought her 
crew from the shore. 

"Why do you leave your boat thus un- 
guarded ? " demanded the Captain. 

" O," they replied, " we have nothing to fear 
from the Indians, not needing even a gun or a 
sword, while at the same time we live and 
sleep together." 

"Well," replied the Captain, "if you have 
no Tieed of caution so much the better." 

He then took the vail from their eyes with 
respect to the Indians ; and, having made them 



Views from Plymouth Eock. 277 

see their true condition, declared the purpose 
of the Governor ; that he had been sent to save 
them and to invite them to Plymouth, unless 
they thought they could make some better 
provision for themselves. 

The boasting Weston men were now thor- 
oughly humbled. They put themselves at once 
under the directions and protection of Standish. 
The stragglers were called in, and commanded 
not to leave the settlement under the pain of 
death. A pint of corn a day, which the pil- 
grims could not afford for themselves, was 
given to each man. 

In the mean time the Indians sent a man, 
under the pretext of trade, to see what the 
Captain had come for. He found the Captain 
" carrying things very smoothly;" yet the cun- 
ning spy reported that he saw by the Captain's 
eyes that " he had anger in his heart." 

This put the Indians on the watch for the 
favored moment to spring upon their prey. A 
noted " brave," named Pecksuot, told Hobomok, 
who had come with the pilgrim party, that he 



278 YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 

knew what Standish had come for. " Tell 
him," said the Indian defiantly, " we fear him 
n%t, neither will shun him ; but let him come 
when he dares, he shall not take us unawares. '' 

Often, after this, the hraves would come into 
Standish's presence, sometimes singly, and at 
others in considerable numbers, and sharpen 
their knives before his face, and use insulting 
gestures. Among them was Standish's old ac- 
quaintance, Wituwamat. He boasted loudly 
of the excellency of his knife. It had pictured 
on the handle a woman's face. He said he had 
another at home with a man's face on it. By 
and by these would marry. Then, flourishing 
the shining blade in the Captain's face, he said, 
tauntingly, " Soon this will see, and soon this 
will eat, but not speak." 

Pecksuot joined again in the insults. He 
told Standish that though he was a great 
Captain he was but a little man, " while I," he 
added, swelling with his own importance, 
" though no chief, am large and strong and 
brave." 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Rock. 279 

Standish, the while, the true lion, kept per- 
fectly cool, while these cunning foxes dared to 
insult him. He waited the moment when the 
right ones should be in his presence together. 
That moment at last came. Pecksuot, Witu- 
wamat and his younger brother of like bloody 
character and insulting words, and still another 
leader of the conspiracy, were in the room to- 
gether. The doors had been fastened. Standish 
and three of his men were face to face to these 
four stalwart savages. The conflict was com- 
menced by the Captain, who snatched the knife 
from the neck of Pecksuot. Each took his man, 
and engaged in the grapple for victory or death. 
No quarters were asked or expected. Pecksuot, 
though bleeding freely, made a plunge at Stand- 
ish's throat, and wrestled with giant energy for 
the recovery of his knife. Doubtless the Cap- 
tain's history would have ended here if he had 
succeeded ; but though his foeman's inferior in 
size and strength, he was his superior in the 
skillful handling of the deadly weapon. He 
plunged it into his breast, and the haughty 



280 Views from Plymouth Kock. 

Indian died without a word or a groan. The 
other savages were equally determined in their 
resistance, but were all killed but the young 
brother of Wituwamat, who yielded and was 
taken prisoner; and, after awhile, his con- 
nection with the conspiracy being fully estab- 
lished, he was hanged. 

Stan dish, who was as prompt to follow up the 
advantages of a victory as to achieve it, sent the 
"Weston men in one direction in pursuit of the 
panic-stricken and flying savages, while he, 
with his men, pursued the principal remaining 
sachem. He fled with his followers into a 
swamp, and the Captain sent after him a chal- 
lange to single combat ; but it was wisely if 
not politely declined. Stan dish, seeing a file 
of Indians rallying, turned to attack them. 
They attempted to secure an advantageous post 
on the top of a hill ; but he cut them off and 
gained it himself. The Indians then broke 
and run. Hobomok, who was a great fighter 
and swift of foot, cast away his bear-skin coat 
and outstripped the pilgrims in the pursuit. 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Rock. 281 

But mortal fear makes good runners, and the 
Indians escaped. 

Hobomok was much pleased with this victory. 
He witnessed, without moving a hand, the dead- 
ly strife which ended in the triumph of his 
white friends. When it was completed he 
smiled, and said to Standish: "Yesterday, 
Pecksuot, bragging of his strength and stature, 
said you were a great Captain but a little man ; 
but to-day I see that you are big enough to lay 
him on the ground." 

Standish remained at Wessagusset until 
several more of the Indians had been killed 
by his men, and their panic made complete. A 
part of the Weston men chose to go in their vessel 
to the fishing stations on the coast of Maine. 
When these had sailed out of sight, Standish, 
with the others, who now utterly abandoned 
the settlement, came safely to Plymouth, 
bearing the head of Wituwamat. He was re- 
ceived by his energetic government and people 
with much of the same feeling with which, long 

after, their successors received Grant returning 
18 



282 Views feom Plymouth Eock. 

from the fall of Richmond and the capture of 
Lee. They breathed easier, for they and their 
wives and children and hard-earned homes were 
safe. 

The Indian spy was brought out to see the 
head of his chief, which was put over the gate 
as a warning. He was asked if he knew it. 
He answered. Yes. He was then generously 
set at liberty. This proved good policy, for he 
carried dismay every-where, and the chiefs 
hastened to make peace with the pilgrims. 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Rock. 283 



CHAPTER XXI. 

INCIDENTS OF THE THIRD SUMMER. 

The war-cloud having passed away, the pil- 
grims turned their attention to the cultivation 
of their lands. Thej would need, more than 
ever, large crops in harvest-time, for thej had 
now only about corn enough for seed. How 
could the largest amount of farming be best 
performed ? This was a question which greatly 
occupied the minds of the chief men. Under 
the hard terms exacted from them by the mer- 
chant traders the work had been done in com- 
mon by all, and all shared equally in what was 
earned ; that is, a bare living was given to all 
alike, and the rest of the gains went to the 
merchants. We have seen that to this arrange- 
ment made by their agent contrary to their or- 
ders, the chief pilgrims stoutly refused to agree ; 
and it was not signed by them until they had 



284 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 

been a year in Plymontli. Still they had all 
along complied with it. Now their necessities 
required that they should adopt the very best 
plan to secure the largest crops. The old ar- 
ran2;ement of giving the weak the same in 
harvest-time as the strong, the lazy as much as 
the industrious, and the obscui'e as much as 
those who bore burdensome responsibilities, 
made the wheels of industry drag heavily and 
beget painful jealousies. After much debate 
the Governor was authorized to put in opera- 
tion a different system of labor. The whole 
colony was divided into families, and land 
assigned to each, to be cultivated on their own 
responsibility. A certain part of the proceeds 
was to be given for the public expenses and 
general debt ; the rest to belong to those who 
earned it. 

The plan worked finely. All seemed pos- 
sessed of new vigor. Those who for one reason 
or another the Governor could not compel to 
work without being accused of tyranny, now 
went into the field without a murmur. Even 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 285 

many women and children did good service 
among the growing corn. 

When the planting was over their stock of 
provisions was alarmingly low. The remain- 
in o^ corn was divided amono^ the families, which 
afforded to each individual but ^ve kernels ! 
Captain Standish once renewed the supply by 
a trading excursion, but for months together 
they had neither bread nor corn, and often they 
did not know at night where '' a bit " would 
come from in the morning. Governor Brad- 
ford thus describes the expedients they resorted 
to under such circumstances : " Having but one 
boat left, we divide our men into several com- 
panies, each take their turn to go out and 
fish, and return not till they get some, though 
they be ^ve or six days out ; knowing there is 
nothing at home, and to return empty would 
be a great discouragement. When they stay 
long and get but little the rest go a digging 
shell-fish, and thus we live the summer, only 
sending one or two to range the woods for deer ; 
they now and then get one, which we divide 



286 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eoce. 

among the company ; in winter we are helped 
with fowl and ground nnts." 

Elder Brewster, who, with his family, lived 
during this summer chiefly on fish and clams, 
thanked God " that they could suck of the 
abundance of the sea and treasures hid in the 
sand." 

While thus suffering, the pilgrims were dis- 
turbed by unpleasant news contained in letters 
from England. But even this was attended by 
the evidence of God's providential care. One 
John Pierce, a merchant, in whose name their 
right to establish a colony in America was 
secured, had obtained another " charter," pro- 
fessedly in the name of the merchant adven- 
turers, but really in his own name, and solely 
for his own benefit. He secured by it from the 
wicked rulers the ownership of the whole col- 
ony, and the power to hold the pilgrims as mere 
tenants ! How little did their government re- 
gard their rights! 

But God was their defense. Pierce fitted out 
a vessel called the Paragon, with goods and one 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 287 

hundred and nine emigrants to his colony at 
Plymouth. He set sail in her in February of 
this year, 1623 ; but she was driven back by 
fierce, contrary winds. Again he started, and 
was allowed to go into mid ocean, when a terri- 
ble storm dismasted his vessel and sent it back 
a wreck to the shore whence it had come. He 
was glad now to sell out ship and cargo and 
abandon the enterprise. 

In June Admiral Francis West came to 
Plymouth harbor. He brought orders from 
the home authorities to allow no free fishing in 
American waters. All must pay for a license to 
fish or not drop a line. But men of the same 
spirit with those who, a hundred and fifty years 
later, refused to endure dictation in such matters 
by rulers thousands of miles away, were afioat 
upon the waters. They refused either to buy a 
license or refrain from fishing. They believed 
the country belonged to God, and that "the 
abundance of the seas are his^ As neither 
the Admiral nor those who sent him could 
enforce it the law was repealed. 



288 Views from Plymouth Eock. 

The Captain of the Admiral's ship under- 
took to play his little part in oppressing the 
pilgrims. As he found them almost starving, 
and knew thej had furs to sell, he offered them 
as much as they needed of his cargo of pro- 
visions. But thinking that tliey must have 
them, he meanly and wickedly set a very high 
price upon the food, and a very low price upon 
the furs. But men who had fought the ele- 
ments and the Indian^, and had made great 
progress thus far in fighting that bitter foe. 
Want, were not to be easily cheated. They 
refused all traffic with him, and he sailed 
away to Virginia to find more manageable 
customers. 

The situation of the colony became more 
embarrassed by news brought by Admiral 
West. They had been expecting supplies by a 
vessel which had sailed before West left En- 
gland, and which he had passed at sea, and 
now she had been a long time due. Besides, a 
wreck had been seen, which they feared was 
that of the expected ship. 



YiEWs FEOM Plymouth Kock. 289 

Added to these present dark clouds was one 
rising in the distant — not far distant — future. 
The corn planted in May had come up and 
grown for awhile with flattering prospects. 
But the July sun was scorching hot, and the 
sky cloudless. For many weeks the heavens 
gave no rain. The corn put forth immature 
and worthless ears, and its stalks began to 
wither. The grass became well-made hay. 
The heart of the most resolute began to faint, 
and discouragement was creeping into even the 
Plymouth Colony. Hobomok shook his head 
despondingly. " I am much troubled for the 
English," he said, '' for I am afraid they will 
lose all their corn by the drought, and so they 
will be starved." 

" These things," says Winslov/, ^' moved not 
only every good man privately to enter into 
examination of his own estate between God and 
his conscience and to humiliations before him, 
but also to humble ourselves together before 
the Lord by fasting and prayer." 

They set apart a day for this purpose, and 



290 Views from Plymouth Eock. 

met for public confession of their sins, and for 
supplication to God, in the fort on the hill. 
The Indian visitors looked on surprised, and 
asked what it meant, as it was not their Sab- 
bath. On these occasions Elder Brewster con- 
ducted the service, others adding words of in- 
struction and prayer. 

The day commenced with a cloudless sky, 
and, the sun abated none of his scorching rays. 
But God's ear was not turned away from his 
people, nor did he stand afar off. As the day 
declined the clouds began to gather on all 
sides, and the pilgrims lay down that night as- 
sured that God had heard, and would send an 
answer of peace. When they awoke the sound 
of rain saluted their ears. '' It distilled in soft, 
sweet, and joyous showers." The drought was 
broken, and the fields put on their richest green 
and promised an abundant harvest. The ob- 
serving Hobomok broke out again into ex- 
pressions of happy surprise. " Kow I see," he 
exclaimed, " that the Englishman's God is a 
o;ood God, for he has heard you, and sent you 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 291 

rain, aud that without storms and tempests, 
which we usually have with our rain, and which 
beats down our corn; but yours stands whole 
and erect still. Surely your God is a good 
God." 

The pilgrims soon received other tokens of 
God's loving care. The vessel for whose safety 
they had felt so much anxiety arrived the latter 
part of July, and soon after a smaller one, built 
to remain in the country. These were the 
Ann aud Little James. They were laden 
with goods, and brought sixty emigrants. A 
small number ouly of them were old Ley den 
friends, among whom were the two daughters 
of Elder Brewster, Patience and Fear. He 
had brought two sons with him in the May- 
flower, and his oldest son, Jonathan, having 
come in the Fortune, his family were all again 
united. 

Many letters were received, among which 
was one from their old friend, Robert Cushman. 
He explained why so many of those who came 
were strangers, rather than friends of the Ley- 



292 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

den Cimrch. The merchants, at least many of 
them, partook of the S23irit of the times, and 
hated the religious character of the pilgrims. 
Thej threw obstacles in the way of their emi- 
gration, and succeeded in preventing Robinson, 
their Pastor, from coming to Plymouth. Instead, 
they sent over men of a very dilferent stamp, 
and much more like the Wessagusset colonists. 
Some who now came were independent fortune 
seekers, having no connection with either the 
merchants or pilgrims. These expected to build 
fine houses and get rapidly rich. Such dreams 
were soon dispelled. They made bitter com- 
plaints when they saw the destitution of the 
colony. Having a good supply of provisions 
for some time, they expressed a fear that in their 
necessities the pilgrims would lean upon them ; 
on the other hand, many who had growing 
crops feared that these new comers would 
eat up their corn, so the Governor assured 
both parties that . they must depend upon 
themselves. 

There was one of the passengers in the Ann 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 293 

whose coming we may suppose deeply interested 
Governor Bradford. This was the widow Alice 
South worth, a woman of ditinguished talents and 
religious worth, who brought with her two sons 
and considerable property. It will be recollected 
that the Governor's wife was drowned in Prov- 
incetown Harbor. It is said that between him 
and Mrs. Southworth there had been a youth- 
ful partiality. This early love had been re- 
newed since the death of their partners, and 
they were married two weeks after her arrival. 
The Southworth boys became distinguished 
members of the Plymouth Colony, and their 
mother one of its brightest ornaments. 

The Governor's reception of his intended 
wife could not have been with feasting. He 
says of the general entertainment of the recent 
emigrants, that "The best dish we could pre- 
sent them was a lobster, a piece of fish, without 
bread or any thing else but a cup of fair spring 
water.'' 

The crops ripened apace and promised an 
abundant harvest. The coming of old friends, 



294: YiEws FKOM Plymouth Eock. 

thus reuniting some families, brought joy to 
many hearts. Standish had gone out and re- 
turned with corn enough for each to have a 
little until the new should be gathered. The 
pilgrims' sorrow had been turned to gladness, 
and they appointed a day of public Thanks- 
giving, which they observed with joyful hearts. 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 295 



CHAPTER XXII. 

IN PERILS. 

The Plymoutli Pilgrims had endured " perils 
in the sea," "in the wilderness," and "by the 
heathen." Their Christian faith and patience 
were now to be tried by "perils among false 
brethren," and " perils by their own countrymen." 
Soon after the breaking up of Weston's Colony 
there came a man in a boat with some fisher- 
men. He was dressed as a blacksmith, and in- 
troduced himself by a strange name. He made 
many inquiries about the "Weston Colony, and 
when told what had happened he was so agi- 
tated that he betrayed his true name and person. 
It was Weston himself. He immediately sailed 
to Wessagusset, hoping to save something from 
the property he had landed there. A few weeks 
later he found his way to Plymouth in a still 
lower condition. He had been shipwrecked, 



296 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

and cast ashore with only the clothes upon his 
person. Falling into the hands of the Indians 
they stripped him of these, and in this poor 
plight he found his way to a fishing-station in 
Maine. Here he begged or borrowed a snit of 
clothes, and returned to the pilgrims for sym- 
pathy and help. The pilgrims themselves were 
greatly embarrassed by the state of their own 
affairs, "But they pitied his case and remem- 
bered former courtesies. They told him he saw 
their want, and that they knew not when they 
should have a supply ; also how the case stood 
between the merchant-adventurers and them- 
selves, which he well knew. They said they 
had not much beaver, and if they should let 
him have it it might create a mutiny, since 
the colony had no means of procuring food and 
clothes, both which they sadly needed." 

But Weston's need was great, and the pity 
of the pilgrims was abundant, and so of their 
penury they loaned him enough beaver skins to 
commence trade on a small scale, and so be in 
the way of recovering his lost fortune. But he 



Views fkom Plymouth Rock. 297 

rendered evil for good, paying only in bitter 
words and mean conduct. He even used tlie 
fact of the loan to raise a mutinous spirit among 
tlie unprincipled new comers at Plymouth, and 
the fault-finding adventurers at London. But 
his slanders recoiled upon himself, and the 
integrity of his injured friends was apparent 
to all the candid. 

The ship Ann, after lying at anchor in Plym- 
outh Harbor one month, returned laden with 
clapboards and furs for the adventurers from 
the colonists. Winslow, whom we have accom- 
panied on so many interesting excursions among 
the Indians, sailed in her as their business 
agent. 

It was now September, 1623. The pilgrims 
were busy with their harvesting. " The sweet, 
soft, and gentle showers," which had been sent 
in answer to prayer, had continued, with timely 
alternations of warm sunshine, and their gran- 
aries overflowed with plenty. From this time 
Hunger, the dreaded herald of disease and 

death, never visited the Plymouth Plantation. 
19 



298 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

While thus busy, Captain Eobert Gorges, son 
of Sir Ferdinand Gorges, sailed into the harbor. 
He brought a commission from the London 
authorities to act as Governor-general of all the 
nortbern English settlements in America. He 
appointed Governor Bradford as one of his 
chief counselors. He brought also emigrants 
and goods to found a colony in the interest 
of his father. They came not as the pil- 
grims came, in poverty, spurred forward by 
persecution, and upheld by an ardent de- 
sire for religious freedom. Wealth had sup- 
plied them with the means of an easy begin- 
ning. 

The Captain, after enjoying for two weeks 
the generous hospitality of the pilgrims, set sail 
for Wessagusset, where he landed the colonists 
and their outfit. Though mainly bent on gain, 
they were not such reckless adventurers as had 
preceded them at that place. They were ac- 
companied by a clergyman of the English 
Church, a most amiable man by the name of 
Morrel. As Gorges had been commissioned to 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Rock. 299 

rule in all state matters, so Morrel was ap- 
pointed " to exercise superintendence over the 
New England Churches." 

This spot, now known as ]S"orth Weymouth, 
or " Old Spain," seemed to possess special at- 
tractions for the early settlers, notwithstanding 
the bloody seal which had been set upon it. 
Its deep ship channel, extending from the bay 
far into the mainland, with numerous islands 
and indentations here and there ; its " Great 
Hill," which commanded an extended and 
beautiful view of land and water, and its long 
tract of rich meadow, made it an Eden in com- 
parison with the place in which the pilgrims 
" were seated.' 

'Not far from this " Great Hill," and in the 
midst of these marked advantages, tradition 
has assigned the place of this settlement. It 
was by God's special favor that the pilgrims 
were thrown, in spite of themselves, into a 
locality where all these attractions were want- 
ing, otherwise they had been out-numbered, 
out-voted, and their God-regarding common- 



300 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

wealth lost in tlie worldly wisdom of the after- 
comers. 

This settlement by Gorges failed in a little 
over one year, Mr. Morrel, who had kindly for- 
borne to mention in America his appointment 
as the superintendent of the Chnrches, having 
returned to England. 

In January, 1624, William Bradford was re- 
elected Governor. He earnestly requested to 
be excused, saying that if it were an honor 
others should share it, and if a burden it was 
not fair to impose it for a series of years upon 
the same person ; and, at any rate, he wished 
to retire from the position. But he was not ex- 
cused. To share the burdens and honors five 
assistants were given him, and he was intrusted 
with " a double vote." 

In the winter of this year the Plymouth 
Colonists had attempted a trading voyage along 
the coast of Maine in the Little James, the 
small craft which their merchants had sent 
over with the Ann for that purpose. Brad- 
ford remarks that she was the pride of those 



YiEws FKOM Plymouth Eock. 301 

who manned her, "too much so," he feared, 
for their vain-confidence was sadly humbled by 
her ill-luck. She was cast away, and made a 
complete wreck, and every thing lost. She 
was afterward repaired at great cost, but never 
proved profitable. 

In the spring, as the planting approached, 
those who had come in the Ann as independent 
settlers "evil-affected" the minds of some of 
the earlier colonists who were bound by the 
Company agreement. These desired to be 
independent too. The chief men ever seeking 
to gratify, so far as possible, the wishes of the 
people, consented to this, granting mainly the 
same terms as they had done to those who came 
later. An acre of land was granted to each 
individual as near the town as possible, to be 
held as private property. But some of them 
found their independence burdened with many 
inconveniences which they had before escaped 
in their closer relations to the wise managers 
of the Company. 

In March Mr. Winslow returned with a 



302 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 

vessel laden witli various goods for the Colony. 
The most valued part of this cargo was ''four 
neat Mne^^ consisting of three heifers and a 
bull, the first brought into the country, and the 
beginning of a supply of milk and butter. 

Mr. Winslow gave a discouraging account of 
the state of feeling in the London Company. 
They were divided into bitter factions. This 
had been aggravated by the return of some 
of the disappointed independent adventurers. 
These had brought many railing accusations 
against the pilgrims, some of which were 
amusing enough, showing how hard they were 
pressed to find material for their slander, and 
all of them easily answered. Among other 
things they said, " They don't have the sacra- 
ments," when all their accusers knew that their 
Pastor, Robinson, who would have administered 
them, was kept away by fraud. " Their chil- 
dren are not catechised ! " they exclaimed, 
which was notoriously untrue, and the last 
fault likely to be true of them. "Their fish 
wont take salt," they declared, " and so can't 



Views fkom Plymouth Kock. 303 

be preserved." " As true as the other accusa- 
tions," says Bradford. " But their %oater is not 
good," they clamored again. " As good as any 
in the world," replied Bradford. "But," he 
adds, " if they say that our water is not so good 
as the London wine and beer which they dearly 
love, I will not dispute." We wish he had 
"disputed" on this point, for a man of his 
sense could have made a good case on the side 
of " fair spring water." 

The news brought by letters from the Ley- 
den friends were not the most cheering. The 
merchants persisted in opposing their emigra- 
tion. Robinson wrote that the London Com- 
pany was divided into three parties. A small 
number were the bitter and open enemies of the 
pilgrims. A few were their open, steadfast, and 
sincere friends. The greater part did not care 
for them or any other emigrants, except so far 
as they could use them to increase their gains, 
though they " leaned to the Church party." 

Robinson concludes that the greater part had 
rather any person would come than he. It was 



304 Views from Plymouth Eock. 

even so, for he was chief of those ''chief 
pilgrims" whose religious character was too 
clearly defined, and whose love of freedom was 
too persistent for the greedy seekers of money 
and power. 

Under these difficulties Winslow had freighted 
the vessel, and brought three important persons 
to the colony. First, a carpenter, who proved 
a skillful mechanic and a faithful man. He 
rendered important service in boat-building 
and repairing, and in many other ways. His 
early death was much lamented. Secondly, a 
saltmaker. He caused great trouble and vexa- 
tion by his " ignorant, foolish, and self-willed " 
conduct. Thirdly, a clergyman of the English 
Church, whose coming was a scheme of the 
enemies of the pilgrims to break down their 
"Puritan notions." It proved a very feeble 
effort to accomplish a very difficult end. The 
minister's name was Lyford. Winslow and his 
friend Cushman had "consented" to his com- 
ing, "to give content to some in London." The 
latter writes that " he is none of the most emi- 



YiEws FEOM Plymouth Eock. 305 

nent and rare," but hopes lie will prove " an 
honest plain man." 

When he came ashore he was full of fair 
words, and " so bowed and cringed " unto the 
pilgrims that ^'he made them ashamed," and 
"would even have kissed their hands if they 
had suffered it." He was received cordially, 
and, at his desire, admitted to the Church. A 
larger maintenance was voted him than had 
been given to any member of the colony. The 
intelligent, pious, and laborious Elder Brewster, 
who had done the work of a pastor, had " wrought 
with his own hands, that he might not be charg- 
able unto any of them." Lyford was admitted, 
as Brewster had been, into the council-room of 
the Governor, to advise concerning matters of 
state. "When admitted to the Church, Lyford 
shed many tears, and grew eloquent in his 
expressions of gratitude that he had found so 
pure a communion, and brethren of so sweet 
fellowship. He made unsought confessions of 
disorderly conduct in the past, for which he 
professed deep penitence. 



306 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 

Matters went sinoothlj for awhile in reference 
to this new shepherd. In the mean time he 
contracted an intimacy with one of the inde- 
pendent emigrants who came in the Ann, by 
the name of Oldham. This man had been 
troublesome to the pilgrims from his first 
coming; bnt, mider the fair speech and seduc- 
ing example of Lyford, had sought and obtained 
admission to the Church, though soon proving 
that he was unchanged in heart. Lyford and 
Oldham secretly united themselves with the ir- 
religious and insubordinate members of the 
colony. They circulated slanders and encour- 
aged rebellion. Lyford, at length, set up a 
separate meeting on the Sabbath, and admin- 
istered the sacraments with ceremonies the most 
offensive to the pilgrims. Oldham, growing 
bold in impudence, defied the legal demands 
of Standish, and gave him saucy words. We 
have seen that the Captain could "bide his 
time," and the rebel for the moment eluded his 
authority only to feel more keenly that it was 
in the end sure and decisive. 



YiEWs FKOM Plymouth Eock. 307 

When tlie ship in wliicli Win slow came was 
laden by the colony, and ready to return, Ly- 
ford and Oldham were observed to be very busy 
writing ; and their letters, when read by them 
to their intimates among the restless and un- 
principled, seemed to excite much merriment. 
Suspecting plots against the peace of the colony, 
the Governor was sent in his official capacity 
on board the vessel just before she was about 
to hoist her anchor and spread her sails to de- 
part. He demanded of the Captain the letters 
of Lyford and his associates. The Captain was 
pleased at the demand, for he believed the let- 
ters contained treason against the Plymouth 
Commonwealth, toward which he had friendly 
feelings. Twenty letters were opened and read, 
all of which were full of misrepresentations, 
falsehoods, and plots against the colony. Ex- 
tracts from some of the letters, and entire 
copies of others of them, were taken. A few 
of the worst of Lyford's were retained in the 
originals, and copies of them returned to the 
mail bag, so that if their genuineness was 



308 YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 

denied lie miglit be confronted with Ms own 
handwriting. 

Having secured his budget of information 
against the mischief-makers, the Governor re- 
turned in the night, the ship having sailed just 
before dark. 

For a short time the Lyford party were quite 
dumb. They knew their own guilt, and thought 
that the visit to the ship had let light into their 
dark counsels. But the pilgrims, having learned 
by one of the letters that the conspirators in- 
tended, as soon as the vessel left, to revolutionize 
Church and State, and set up public worship un- 
der Lyford on King James's model, thought they 
would preserve a "masterly inactivity." They 
preferred, if there must be war, that their ene- 
mies should fire the first gun. The impudence 
of Oldham to Standish, and his refusal to mount 
guard in compliance with his order, and Lyford's 
establishment of an offensive and unlawful pub- 
lic worship, were the attacks which brought on 
the collision. Short work was made of Old- 
ham. He was " clapt " into the guard-house in 



Views from Plymouth Kock. 309 

the fort, and permitted a fine opportunity for 
reflection in close confinement. The hireling 
shepherd was arrested and brought before the 
general court. Bradford clearly and forcibly 
stated the circumstances of Lyford's coming; 
his professions, and wish to unite with their 
Church;, the generous treatment he had re- 
ceived ; and pointed out the meanness and in- 
justice of his present plotting. 

At this point Lyford, affecting injured inno- 
cence, denied that he had done a wrong thing. 
Bradford replied by reading his intercepted 
letters. The lying rebel was silent. 

The attention of the court was now turned 
toward Oldham and his fellow-plotters. He 
had been tamed somewhat by his opportunity 
for sober second thought ; but the spots of the 
moral leopard were not changed. Bradford 
referred to the fact of their coming for their 
own benefit and pleasure, and to the kind treat- 
ment they had received, and aid which the 
colony had given them in their enterprise. 
He charged upon them thS grossest ingratitude. 



310 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

and said, " They were like the hedgehog in the 
fable, whom the cony, in a stormy day, from 
pity, welcomed into her burrow ; but who, not 
content to take part with her, in the end, with 
her sharp pricks, forced the poor cony to for- 
sake her own burrow, as those do now attempt 
to do with us." 

Oldham felt that these words were " pricks." 
Mad at the force of truth, and foolish as he was 
angry, he interrupted the proceedings of the 
court, calling upon his crew to interfere, and do 
on the spot as he had often heard them say 
they would do, assume the control of the colony. 
But not a hand was raised, not a word uttered 
by his comrades in his defense. Guilt made 
cowards of them all. The pilgrims were twice 
armed ; for they had a just cause, and the cool 
Standish, backed by the pilgrim soldiers. 
Bradford proceeded to read Oldham's letters, 
and those of his confederates. Their cause 
made no show of defense, and Lyford and Old- 
ham were both sentenced to banishment from 
the colony, Oldham immediately left. Ly- 



Views from Plymouth Eock. 311 

ford, who was a prince of hypocrites, burst into 
tears, and into loud self-denunciations. He 
said, " I fear I am a reprobate, with sins too 
heavy to pardon." He promised amendment 
with many tears, and begged forgiveness in 
piteous tones. His tender-hearted judges re- 
lented, though some of them seem to have 
suspected that his repentance was feigned 
Their deacon. Dr. Fuller, said that he would be 
willing to plead in his behalf on his knees. 
Lyford was put upon probation for six months. 
But he slyly wrote to the adventurers in En- 
gland, justifying former charges and making 
additions to them. The enemies of the pil- 
grims for awhile rejoiced. But Winslow soon 
went again on the colonial business to London, 
and when the merchants were having a meeting 
on these charges, some time after his arrival, 
he walked into the midst with such witnesses, 
and such a budget of evidence concerning 
Lyford' s conduct in England and Ireland before 
he went to America, that his friends were con- 
founded and his cause overthrown. 



312 7iEWS FKOM Plymouth Rock. 

When Winslow returned in the spring of 
1625, he landed at Plymouth and walked up 
from the shore without being noticed. An 
exciting transaction was going on in the princi- 
pal street, and the people were absorbed with 
the sight. Files of soldiers were drawn up on 
either side, and a man was "running the gaunt- 
let." As he passed between the soldiers each 
one gave him a thump with the butt of his gun, 
exclaiming, "Mend jour manners." The vic- 
tim of this singular punishment was Oldham, 
who had returned to Plymouth, and scoffed at 
its rulers. Winslow's appearance and testi- 
mony concerning what he had learned of Ly- 
ford's and Oldham's former conduct, confirmed 
the justice of their punishment. Lyford was 
now sent away from Plymouth, even his wife 
being a sorrowful witness against him. He 
died a few years later in Yirginia, leaving no 
evidence of " the repentance which needeth not 
to be repented of." Oldham afterward gained 
the confidence of the pilgrims so far as to be 
permitted to come to Plymouth when he pleased. 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 313 

In his death as in his life, he was an occasion of 
trouble to the colonists. The Indians one day 
beat out his brains with a tomahawk; and 
thereby hangs a tale of war, suffering, and 
bloodshed, at which we shall glance in the 

later portion of our narrative. 

20 



314 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Rock. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CHANGES AND TEIUMPHS. 

The leading disturbers of the peace being 
finally dismissed from the pilgrim community 
they had quiet again. 'No doubt their long- 
tried, modest, but truly pious and able religious 
teacher, Elder Brewster, was more valued, since 
the troubles in the Church, than ever before. 
The great lack of their means of grace was the 
sacraments. Brewster refused to receive ordi- 
nation, not feeling called to the full work and 
responsibilities of a Christian minister ; and his 
pastor, Mr. Robinson, had written to him, say- 
ing that a ruling elder, in his opinion, should 
not administer those ordinances. So he con- 
tinued '' to teach " on the Sunday, which means, 
we suppose, that he explained and enforced por- 
tions of God's word, (the true jpreaching^ and 
continued in the spiritual oversight of the Pil- 
grim Church. 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 316 

All feared that the late troubles would be 
very disastrous to the spiritual interests of the 
colony. But God made the wrath of man to 
praise him. Additions were immediately made 
to the Church of sincere and earnest converts. 
They professed to have been made to feel more 
deeply the necessity of a true faith in Christ by 
Lyford's hypocrisy ; and that the late troubles 
had convicted them of their duty of being the 
sincere helpers of God's people. The pilgrims 
were full of gratitude for this unexpected effect 
of a sore trial, and were inspired with new faith 
and zeal. 

The cultivation of the land went forward this 
summer, 1625, on a larger scale than ever, the 
Little James was sent on a trading excursion, 
the laws of the colony were respected and 
obeyed, and new vigor was manifested in every 
department of the Plymouth interests. One 
fact only seemed now to trammel their prog- 
ress; that was, their bondage to the London 
merchants. They determined to make every 
honest effort possible to be free. For this pur- 



316 Views from Plymouth Rock. 

pose tliej sent Standish, some time in the sum- 
mer, to London. Two vessels were laden with 
valuables, and he went in the larger one, which 
took the smaller one in tow. Such was the 
favorable condition of the wind and sea that 
the little craft was towed the whole distance 
until they reached the English Channel. But, 
alas ! the pilgrim trial of faith was to receive a 
new lesson. The smaller boat, which was to 
empty its freight into the treasury of the 
merchants, and pay so much of the Plymouth 
debt, was seized by a Turkish pirate, and the 
master and crew were sold into slavery. Those 
were not the times of war steamers with guns 
of long range, or English vessels could not have 
been taken in sight of home ! Fortunately the 
Turk thought discretion the better part of valor, 
and did not pursue the larger vessel, which con- 
tained Standish. Probably he would not have 
gone into Turkish slavery without a warm 
fight. As it was, he escaped with sorrowful 
news for the merchants. 

In the mean time the friends at Plymouth 



Views from Plymouth Lock. 317 

had gathered a plentiful harvest. Peace was in 
all their borders. After the harvest, Win slow, 
and some of " the old standards," went to the 
Kennebec and had good success in trading. 
The winter of 1 625-6 passed pleasantly away, 
and the spring brought important and solemn 
changes. Stan dish, who had returned, com- 
municated much interesting news. The great 
plague raged fearfully in London, bearing mul- 
titudes daily to the tomb. The quarrel among 
the merchants had resulted in the departure of 
the most of them from the Company. The few 
which remained wei'e kindly disposed toward 
the pilgrims, but oppressed by the heavy debt 
the latter owed them. The Captain had ob- 
tained a loan by giving fifty per cent, interest, 
paid a small portion of the debt, and made 
good progress in an arrangement to extinguish 
it all; and, finally, had bought with good 
judgment needed articles for use and trade. 

But these items of business news were of 
small account in comparison with others which 
he brought. Their Pastor, for so the pilgrims 



318 Views fkom Plymouth Eock. 

still regarded him, Mr. Eobinson, was dead. 
Though he had been dead more than a year, it 
was a fresh bereavement to his flock in the 
wilderness. ''He fell sick Saturday morning, 
February 22, 1625. Next day he taught twice; 
but in the week grew feebler every day, and 
quit this life on the first of March. All his 
friends came freely to him ; and if prayers, tears, 
or means could have saved his life he had not 
gone hence." 

"He died in the fifty -first year of his age, 
even as fruit falleth before it is ripe, when 
neither length of days nor infirmity of body did 
seem to call for his end." 

So wrote Bradford, while the cry of the Pil- 
grim Church seemed to be, " O my father ! 
my father ! " 

Kobert Cushman, too, was dead ! These 
great and good men, though far away, had 
been the true friends and counselors of the still 
struggling pilgrims, and their death seemed to 
leave them orphans. They mourned as children 
foi* beloved parents. 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Rock. 319 

Standisb doubtless also brought news, which 
though not much affecting the pilgrims per- 
sonally, was nevertheless to them a matter of 
deep interest, that King James was dead. He 
had been largely the cause of their coming to 
the new world. His " harrow " had entered 
deeply the nation's heart, and now he had gone 
to answer for his deeds to the King of kings. 

The troubles caused the colonists by the un- 
friendly merchant-adventurers were not ended, 
although they had withdrawn from the com- 
pany. The pilgrims had put up on Cape Ann 
some "stages" on which to dry fish. These 
merchants, fitting out a vessel and sending her 
to Cape Ann, took possession of them. Captain 
Standish had some warm talk with them about 
the matter, and seemed inclined to follow his 
words by warmer deeds, when the dispute was 
settled by both parties uniting and building a 
new stage for the intruders. 

Governor Bradford went during this sum- 
mer (1626) to the coast of Maine to buy goods 
for the colony of the English and French trad- 



320 YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 

ing parties, and succeeded in getting a small 
amount. There was no pause in his activity 
for the promotion of the public good 

When the harvest of this year was gath- 
ered, the houses of the colony put in order 
against the fierce attacks of wintry cold, and 
the men generally scattered during the pleasant 
days to the not very profitable business of fish- 
ing and hunting, the chief pilgrims held grave 
counsel over the state of their affairs. There 
was only one year left of the seven of partner- 
ship with the merchants. At its close all the 
property of the colony was to be divided, ac- 
cording to agreement, among the whole com- 
pany, even to their houses and gardens, and 
every home convenience, and then a heavy 
debt would be due the London partners. 
This obligation must be met, and its crushing 
weight avoided, if possible. Standish had, 
during the previous fall and winter, nearly 
completed an arrangement to buy them. off. 
They would sell out for eighteen hundred 
pounds sterling, (about $9,000,) to be paid in 



Views feom Plymouth Kock. 321 

nine annual installments, Nine bonds were 
made out, and signed by eight of the prominent 
men for $1,000 each, and Mr. Allerton sent to 
England to exchange them for a clear title of 
the Plymouth Colony. This done, and the 
payments finally met, the pilgrims would be 
free. 

Allerton sailed before winter set in, and 
returned in the spring of 162Y with the ar- 
rangement completed, though he had to hire 
money for present necessities at a high rate of 
interest. The friends who had sent him were 
glad of his success, though Bradford records 
the fact that they felt keenly the heavy burden 
they had assumed. " They knew not well," he 
says, "how to raise this yearly payment, be- 
sides discharging their other engagements and 
supplying their annual wants." 

After much counsel the following plan was 
adopted: The firm of eight pilgrims who had 
assumed the debt agreed to permit the original 
colonists and the approved new-comers to take 
shares in the colony property which they had 



322 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

bouglit ; every father of a family, besides his 
own share, could take one for his wife, and one 
for each child living with him ; the share- 
holders were to own their own homes and im- 
provements, and each have twenty acres of land 
fit for tillage ; these shares were to be paid 
for by a yearly portion of the fruits of the in- 
dustry of each purchaser ; the trade of the 
colony was to belong exclusively to the firm 
who were to pay the debt ; and the cows, goats, 
and swine were to be divided among the share- 
holders. The value of a certain red cow was 
$160, which shows that at this time the cattle 
were few and greatly desired. There were one 
hundred and fifty-six purchasers, among whom 
was the faithful friend of the colonists, Hobomok. 
He took his twenty, acres of land, which is a 
pleasant evidence of his civilization ; and it is 
further stated that " when he died he left some 
good hope in the settlers' hearts that his soul 
had gone to rest." 

This plan worked well. Their financial af- 
fairs improved from this time, "so tliat their 



Views fkom Plymouth Eock. 323 

proceedings were both honored and imitated 
by others." 

The chief pilgrims, feeling now for the first 
time since they came to America that they 
were the sole managers of their colony in- 
terests, yearned more than ever for a reunion 
with their friends in Ley den. They were a 
broken Christian family, whose mutual afifec- 
tion had not diminished by separation. But 
if the reunion ever took place the pilgrims 
must pay the expense of the emigration to 
Plymouth. This, with their already heavy 
enterprise, they undertook to do. " To effect 
this," says Bradford, "they resolved to run a 
high course and great venture. In the fall 
they sent Allerton again to England. He was 
authorized to sell a part of the right of the 
trade of the colony to raise money to pay the 
expenses of the Leyden Church to Plymouth. 
He returned in the spring of 1628 with a good 
report. He had engaged four well-tried friends 
to accept the charge of the transportation 
of the Leyden members for a share in the 



324 Views from Plymouth Rock. 

colonial trade; lie had paid the first annual 
installment to the merchants, and had obtained 
from the London authorities a patent for land 
fifteen miles each side of the Kennebec River. 

The pilgrims lost no time in building a 
"block-house," at a convenient point on that 
river, for trade with the Indians and fishermen. 
Their own attempts at catching fish had proved 
a failure, and they now gave their main atten- 
tion to trade. 

Allerton had not only brought " a reasonable 
supply of goods," but had brought a young 
minister by the name of Rogers, paying his 
expenses out of the public treasury. But their 
hope of having an ordained minister, so that 
they might have the sacraments, was again 
blasted. Mr. Rogers was not like Lyford, a 
knave, but was afflicted with insanity, and 
the Plymouth Church soon returned him to 
England. 



YiEws FKOM Plymouth Rock. 325 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

FRIENDLY VISITORS. 

The pilgrims began to feel that tliej were not 
alone in the American forest. Hitherto the 
savages had been their only neighbors. 'Now 
English settlements had been commenced at 
the head of Massachusetts Bay, and on the 
coast of Maine. The Dutch, who had, previous 
to the settlement of Plymouth, traded with the 
Indians about the mouth of the Hudson River, 
had followed the pilgrims' example, and founded 
a colony where New York now stands. The 
Plymouth people had heard from them from 
time to time by the uncertain reports brought 
by the Indians. They had long wished for a 
neighborly acquaintance and friendly trade. 
They had missed the opportunity of an intro- 
duction to the Dutch when one of the ships of 
the latter was reported as aground in N^arra- 



326 Views from Plymouth Kock. 

gansett Bay, at the time when Winslow visited 
the sick sachem, Massasoit. 

In the spring of 1627 the Chief Secretary of 
the Dutch Settlement, Isaac De Kasieres, wrote 
a letter to Governor Bradford. It was very full 
of flattering titles and high-sounding compli- 
ments, bestowed upon the pilgrim governor. 
The meaning of it all was, that the Dutch wanted 
to be acquainted with the Plymouth people, 
and to open a trade with them. Bradford re- 
plied, and told the honorable Secretary that his 
letter was most cordially received, only that his 
"good- will and friendship" was expressed "in 
over-high titles," and " more than belonged to 
them." He proceeds, however, to equal the 
Secretary in "high titles" in his reply, after 
the manner of the age, and assures him that 
the Plymouth Colony would like to trade, but 
intimates in very polite though meaning terms, 
that they did not concede the right of the 
Dutch to trade with the Indians in the vicinity 
of Plymouth, telling them that King James 
had given that right to the pilgrims. The 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 327 

Secretary writes again, is as profuse as ever 
in "liigh titles" and flattering compliments, 
and tells the pilgrims with exceeding great 
politeness that the Dutch Colony at Manhattan 
received their right to trade in the Plymouth 
neighborhood from theiT rulers in Holland, and 
that they should do so when they pleased, and 
the pilgrims might help themselves if they 
could. After this correspondence had taken 
place the honorable Secretary decides to visit 
his friend Bradford, and talk over the mutual 
interests of the two colonies face to face. This 
decision was very wise; for the pen in such 
cases is less friendly than the tongue, especially 
where the latter is prompted by a "generous 
hospitality." 

So De Rasieres sailed from Manhattan, in a 
trading vessel, through Long Island Sound and 
Narragansett Bay, to the mouth of the Manomet 
River, which flows into Buzzard's Bay. From 
that point he wrote to Governor Bradford, 
sending his compliments, and telling the Gov- 
ernor that he designed visiting him, but that 



328 Views fkom Plymouth Rock. 

the distance from that place to Plymouth by 
land was greater than he had undertaken for 
years, and that he would be greatly obliged to 
his Excellency for a less laborious mode of 
reaching him. In response the Governor sent 
the shallop to Scusset Harbor, that part of 
Sandwich which lies on the Cape Cod Bay 
shore, and the point directly opposite the an- 
chorage of the honorable Secretary's vessel. 
The distance across was six miles only. By 
landing here and crossing to the other shore, 
and so sailing to Plymouth, he saved the long 
and perilous voyage round Cape Cod. The 
pilgrims early established a " block-house " for 
trade on Buzzard's Bay, conveying their freight 
across here, and so by water to Plymouth. 

De Rasieres "came honorably attended with 
a noise of trumpeters." Bradford calls him " a 
man of fair and genteel behavior." He brought 
goods, with which he commenced a trade among 
the pilgrims. Among other things he had for 
sale the Indian wamjpum and suckawhock. 
The wampum was their white, and the sucka- 



YiEWs FROM Plymouth Kock. 329 

whock their black money. It was made from 
a large species of clam which the natives called 
quahaug^ found on the I^ew England sea-shore, 
and still known by that name. This money 
was made principally by the Narraganset and 
Long Island Indians. They nsed the delicate, 
pearl-like lining of the shell for this purpose, 
the black, or more accurately, perhaps, the pur- 
ple, was twice the value of the white, as very 
little of the shell was of that color. Small 
pieces were taken, drilled, and ground to a 
smooth surface and polished. 

The pilgrims bought a large quantity of this 
money of their visitor, and at first found only 
a dull sale for it, but after awhile it proved a 
profitable article. It was not known until this 
time to them, nor generally to the Indians, but 
came into extensive use. 

This Dutch ofl&cial and distinguished mer- 
chant, who sold the pilgrims the money, had a 
sharp eye to business in so doing, as he after- 
ward wrote to his home government. He says 

that if the Plymouth men should go themselves 

21 



330 Views from Plymouth Eock. 

to the money-making Indians tliey would find 
out how profitable a trade the Dutch were driv- 
ing in furs with them, and, he significantly 
adds, " which if they were to find out it would 
be a great trouble for us to maintain, for they 
already dare to threaten that if we will not 
leave off dealing with that people they will be 
obliged to use other means." 

Among other friendly purposes of this visit, 
De Rasieres desired to secure an alliance be- 
tween the Plymouth and Dutch colonies against 
the French. This was agreed to, though the 
Plymouth Governor dryly remarks, "We knew 
it was with an eye to their own profit." The 
keen Dutch merchant had not flattered the pil- 
grims by " high titles " into dullness in seeing 
his selfish aims. 

But the visit seems to have been a very 
agreeable one to all concerned, and was the 
beginning of a friendly intercourse and profit- 
able trade between the two colonies. We for- 
tunately have the Secretary's account of this 
visit, which was recovered a few years ago 



Views from Plymouth Rock. 331 

from piles of documents in a library at Hol- 
land. "We may use his eyes in seeing the pil- 
grims at their homes. He thus speaks of their 
method of taking alewives in Town Brook : 
"At the south side of the town there flows 
down a small river of fresh water, very rapid 
but shallow, which takes its rise from several 
lakes in the land above, and there empties into 
the sea, where in April and the beginning of 
May there comes so many herring from the sea 
which want to ascend that river that it is quite 
surprising. This river the English have shut 
in with planks, and in the middle with a little 
door which slides up and down, and at the sides 
with trellis- work, through which the water has 
its course, but which they can also close with 
slides. At the mouth they have constructed it 
with planks, like an eel-pot with wings, where 
in the middle also is a sliding-door, and with 
trellis-work at the sides, so that between the 
two dams there is a square pool into which the 
fish come swimming in such shoals, in order to 
get up above, where they deposit their spawn, 



332 Views fkom Plymouth Kock. 

tliat at one tide there are from ten thousand to 
twelve thousand fish in it, which thej shut ofi* 
in the rear at the ebb, and close up the trellises 
above, so that no more water comes in; then 
the water runs out through the lower trellises, 
and they draw out the fish with baskets, each 
according to the land he cultivates, and carry 
them to it, depositing in each hill three or four 
fishes, and in these they plant their maize, which 
grows as luxuriantly therein as though it were 
the best manure in the world; and if they 
do not lay their fish therein the maize will 
not grow, so that such is the nature of the 
soil. 

"Their farms are not so good as ours, be- 
cause they are more stony, and, consequently, 
not so suitable for the plow. They apportion 
their land according as each has means to con- 
tribute to the eighteen hundred pounds sterling 
which they have promised to those who had 
sent them out, whereby they have their free- 
dom without rendering an account to any one ; 
only if tlie King should send a Governor-general 



Views feom Plymouth Rock. 333 

they wonld be obliged to acknowledge him as 
sovereign chief. 

" They have better means of living than our- 
selves, because they have the fish so abundant 
before their doors. There are also many birds, 
such as geese, heron, and cranes, and other 
small legged birds, which are in great abun- 
dance there in the winter. 

" The tribes in their neighborhood have all 
the same customs, only they are better con- 
ducted than ours, because the English give 
them the example of better ordinances and a 
better life ; and who also, to a certain degree 
give them laws, by means of the respect they, 
from the very first, establish among them." 

The following account which he gives of the 
pilgrim mode of religious worship at this time 
shows how much, even in their sacred hours, 
they indulged fears of their savage neighbors. 
The plot of Wituwamat and the massacre of 
the Yirginia Colony were yet in painful re- 
membrance. Perhaps, however, their love of 
military discipline, under Captain Standish, 



334: YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 

may account in part for their parade of 
arms. 

The Dutch visitor writes that "the houses 
are constructed of hewn planks, with gardens 
also inclosed behind and at the sides with hewn 
planks, so that their houses and court-yards are 
arranged in very good order, with a stockade 
against a sudden attack ; and at the ends of the 
streets there are three wooden gates. In the 
center, on the cross-street, stands the Governor's 
house, before which is a square in closure upon 
which four guns are mounted, so as to flank 
along the streets. Upon the hill they have a 
large square house with a flat roof, made of 
thick sawn planks, stayed with oak beams, 
upon the top of which they have six cannons, 
which shoot iron balls of four and five pounds, 
and command the surrounding country. The 
lower part they use for their Church, where 
they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays. 
They assemble by beat of drum, each with his 
musket or firelock, in front of the Captain's 
door ; they have their cloaks on, and place 



YiEWs FKOM Plymouth Rock. 335 

themselves in order, three abreast, and are led 
bj a sergeant without beat of drum. Behind 
comes the Governor in a long robe ; beside him, 
on the right hand, comes the Preacher with his 
cloak on, and on the left hand the Captain, with 
his side arms and cloak on, and with a small 
cane in his hand ; and so they march in good 
order, and each sets his arms down near him. 
Thus they are constantly on their guard night 
and day." 

De Rasieres, having spent several days at 
Plymouth, was escorted on his return by the 
Governor and his attendants to Buzzard's Bay, 
where there was a friendly leave-taking. 

An account of a visit to Plymouth about five 
years after this, in 1632, of a very different per- 
sonage, will give us a still nearer view of the 
pilgrim worship in their Church fort on the 
hill. The colony had now three hnudred in- 
liabitants, and, of course, as they were a Church- 
going people, could show a goodly number in 
their Sabbath congregation. They had, too, as 
we shall see, a pastor. Some Plymouth people, 



336 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 

visiting J^antasket, doubtless for furs or fish, 
found what they least expected to find, though 
much desired, a Christian minister. His name 
was Ralph Smith. He was in quite a desti- 
tute condition, and begged to be carried to 
Plymouth. He here found, as the homeless 
and sufi'ering ever found, " kind entertainment 
and shelter." He was invited even to " exercise 
his gifts, which were rather low," and was 
finally chosen their Pastor. 

So at the time of the visit of which we are 
about to speak the pilgrims had a Pastor and a 
good-sized congregation. The visitor was Mr. 
Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts 
Colony. That colony had rapidly increased 
in numbers, and it was highly becoming that 
the rulers of a kindred people should exchange 
fraternal greetings. The following is Governor 
Winthrop's account of his excursion, for this 
purpose, to Plymouth : " The Governor of 
Massachusetts Bay, with Mr. Wilson, Pastor of 
Boston, and some others, went on board the 
'Lion,' on the 25th of October, and thence 



YiEws FKOM Plymouth Eock. 337 

Captain Pierce carried them to Wessagussett, 
where is now a prosperous settlement of a 
graver sort than the old ones. The next morn- ^ 
iiig the Governor and his company went on 
foot to Plymouth, and came thither within the 
evening. The Governor of Plymouth, Mr. 
William Bradford, a very discreet and grave 
man, with Elder Brewster and some others, 
came forth and met them without the town, 
and conducted them to the Governor's house," 
where they were very kindly entertained, and 
feasted every day at several houses. 

" On the Lord's day there was a sacrament, 
of which they partook ; and in the afternoon 
Mr. Roger Williams, according to a Plym- 
outh custom, propounded a question, to which 
the Pastor, Mr. Smith, spoke briefly ; then 
Mr. Williams prophesied, (preached,) and after, 
the Governor of Plymouth spoke to the ques- 
tion; after him the Elder; then some two or 
three more of the congregation. Then the 
Elder desired the Governor of Massachusetts 
Bay and Mr. Wilson to speak to it, which they 



338 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 

did. "When this was done, Mr. Fuller, their 
surgeon, put the congregation in mind of their 
duty of contribution ; whereupon the Governors, 
and all the rest, went down to the Deacon's seat, 
and put into the box, and then returned." 

On Wednesday, the 31st of October, at five 
o'clock in the morning, the Governor and his 
company came out of Plymouth, whose Gov- 
ernor, Pastor, Elder and others, accompanied 
them nearly half a mile in the dark. Lieuten- 
ant Holmes, one of their chiefest men, with two 
companions and Governor Bradford's mare, 
came along with them to a great swamp, about 
ten miles." 

At this point the two parties separated, the 
Massachusetts company arriving that night at 
"Wessagusset, where they received a bountiful 
entertainment. Their guide, during the jour- 
ney, had carried them, one by one, over the 
streams on his back. The next day they sailed 
out of " Weymouth River " into the open bay, 
and passed many of its beautiful islands to their 
homes m Boston. 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 339 

By these visits we are afforded a glance at 
the increasing comfort and sociability of the 
pilgrims' situation ; but in their estimation there 
was a great deficiency to be supplied before the 
demands of their social and religious affections 
could be satisfactorily met. The deficiency they 
proposed to meet by the results of a diligently 
prosecuted trade. 



340 Views from Plymouth Eock. 



CHAPTEK XXY. 



We have seen that the chief pilgrims arranged, 
through Allerton, the conveyance of their re- 
maining Leyden friends to the colony. Before 
the close of 1630 this had been accomplished. 
The expense of their passage and support until 
they could gather crops of their own was about 
six thousand dollars of our money. This the 
principal men freely gave from the proceeds of 
their trade, for the pleasure of a reunion with 
those they loved. ISTo stronger evidence could 
be given of the genuineness of their Christian 
affection. 

About the time the Plymouth Colony re- 
ceived its addition from Leyden, emigrants of 
a very different character were landing not far 
from them. Captain Wollaston, an English- 
man, and "a man of pretty parts," landed a 



Views from Plymouth Eock. 343 

company further up the bay, about eight miles 
south-east of where Boston now stands. He was 
attracted by a beautiful swell of land not far 
from the shore commanding a view of the bay 
with its numerous islands and inlets, and also 
of the country far inward. It is known at the 
present time as Mount Wollaston, in Quincy. 
Here the Captain landed his emigrants, sup- 
plied them with the means to provide for their 
own comfort, and secure a good stock of furs 
for himself. He then put an agent in charge, 
took his servants, and sailed for Yirginia. The 
men he left behind were bad enough ; but there 
came among them, after WoUaston departed, a 
man of the name of Thomas Morton, who was 
a very prince of evil doing. He had come to 
the country, it is supposed, with Weston's Com- 
pany. He flattered Wollaston's men, got control 
of the colony, and turned out the agent. Under 
his prompting they ate, drank, and made merry. 
They commenced a trade with the natives by 
selling them guns and ammunition, and teaching 
them to mold lead shot of various kinds. The 



344 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

pilgrims had strictly prohibited this ki-, ^f 
trade. It became the occasion of much trouble 
and the loss of many lives. The conduct of 
Morton and his crew matured into crimes of 
every hue. The settlers in every direction 
sent to Plymouth, beseeching them to put an 
end to a colony which was corrupting even the 
savages, and endangering the peace of all the set- 
tlements. The pilgrims sent an earnest remon- 
strance to Morton, which he spurned, telling 
them in effect to mind their own business, and 
continued to heap to himself the wrath both of 
man and God. Urged by the other colonies 
and their own safety, the Plymouth authorities 
sent Captain Standish, with a few of his pilgrim 
soldiers, to remonstrate with Morton with a 
little wholesome military force. Morton, as 
cowards generally do, stimulated his own and 
his men's courage with strong drink, retired to 
his log-house, which he barricaded, and then 
defied the Captain. The soldiers fearlessly 
assaulted the house, which they took without 
bloodshed. Morton's gun was double-loaded ,_ 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 345 

but he was too drunk to use it. The den of 
wickedness was broken up, and Morton was 
carried to Plymouth, and finally sent to En- 
land for trial. Thus the pilgrims were a terror 
to English as well as Indian evil doers. 

But the Plymouth people coujd not right all 
their wrongs. The grant of lands to them on 
the coast of Maine became the occasion of many 
unpleasant and vexatious collisions with other 
traders. They had a fort and depot of trade 
on the Penobscot. A French shipmaster hap- 
pening there when the principal traders had 
gone to Plymouth, and finding only a few 
servants in charge of valuables, began to take 
liberties. He and bis men entered the fort 
with many polite airs, took the muskets from 
their racks ; and, first assuring themselves that 
they were loaded, bestowed upon them many 
expressions of generous compliment. Then, 
very politely pointing them at the keepers 
of the Plymouth furs, and other valuables, he 
demanded their transfer to his vessel. When 
this was done the Frenchman took his leave, 



346 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

bidding the servants say to the pilgrims that 
" Some gentlemen of the Isle of Kh^ had been 
there to leave their compliments." The furs 
alone were worth twenty-five hundred dollars, 
and the entire loss was a serious one to the 
embarrassed and struggling owners. 

There was an incident which occurred at the 
pilgrim trading post on the Kennebec some 
time after this robbery which afflicted the 
Plymouth people much more seriously. In- 
deed, they called it the " saddest occurrence " 
which had taken place since they came into the 
country. They claimed, by the grant of the 
English authorities, an exclusive right to trade 
on that river, fifteen miles from its mouth, and 
the same distance upon either side. They had 
built a fort, stocked it with goods, and sent a 
company of their best men to exchange them 
for furs. In all this there was, of course, much 
expense involved. One day, when their excel- 
lent agent, John Howland, was in charge of 
the post, there came an English captain, by the 
name of Hocking, in a vessel belonging to two 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Rock. 347 

English lords. He had been in the Piscataqua 
River, and, probably, not meeting with good 
trade, turned an envious eye to the pilgrim 
locality on the Kennebec. He boldly sailed 
past the fort, and, in spite of remonstrance, 
dropped his anchor far above, where he could 
intercept the trade as it came in the canoes 
down the river. Howland remonstrated, urg- 
ing the rights given to the Plymouth Colony, 
and their great outlay to secure the benefit of 
them, and was answered with taunting words. 
He then threatened, but was defied. After 
much consultation with his men, two of them 
were sent in a canoe to cut the cable of Hock- 
ing's vessel, and set it adrift. This they did; 
but, as the vessel swung round, Hocking, who 
was standing on the deck, leveled his gun and 
shot one of the men through the head, killing 
him instantly. The other man, under the ex- 
citement of the moment, returned the shot and 
killed Hocking. The affair produced great 
excitement in all the scattered English settle- 
ments, especiallv in that of Boston Bay. When 
22 



348 Views fkom Plymouth Rock. 

John Alden went there, a short time after, in a 
Plymouth vessel, the magistrates arrested him, 
although he was not even at the Kennebec when 
Hocking was shot. The pilgrims immediately 
sent Standish to the Bay Company to explain 
the affair, and to secure Alden's relief. In the 
end, the colonists every-where, learning the facts 
in the case, declared that Hocking had procured 
his own death, and the pilgrims stood acquitted 
of blame. Even the offended aristocratic own- 
ers of his vessel, who were for awhile full of 
anger at the Plymouth people, dropped the 
matter. 

Though in trade, as in all other enterprises, 
meeting with continual causes of discourage- 
ment, the pilgrims pushed forward, in every 
direction, their plans to pay their financial ob- 
ligations and meet their current expenses. In 
1633 they commenced a trade on the Connect- 
icut. They had heard much of its sweet 
waters, and of the rich furs of the natives along 
its banks. They called it, probably from the 
Indian pronunciation, " Co-nigh t-e-cute." This 



Views from Plymouth Eock. 349 

was rather a dark but quite a "cute" way of 
spelling it. The Dutch at Manhattan, hearing 
of their purpose, hurried forward a few men, 
who began a little fort where Hartford now 
stands, and warned off all comers. The pil- 
grim vessel, laden with goods and the frame 
of a trading house, sailed up the river and 
began a settlement at Windsor. As they 
passed the Dutchmen they were commanded 
to come to at their peril; but nothing more 
alarming was shot at them than a few Dutch 
oaths. 

Scarcely had the pilgrim fathers sent their 
men to open this avenue of income when a 
fatal disease appeared at Plymouth. It seized 
all ages, and in a short time twenty died, 
among whom were some just arrived from 
Ley den. They had reached the earthly home 
for which they had so long yearned, to go 
from it to a heavenly mansion. As in their 
sickness of the first winter, death sought the 
ripest and most precious sheaves, as well as 
the opening flowers and early fruit of infancy 



350 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 

and youth. Dr. Samuel Fuller, the faithful 
Deacon, the skillful physician, the warm friend, 
and the ripe Christian, was one of the victims. 
His fellow-pilgrims dropped generous tears over 
his grave, and nttered words of sincere enlogy. 
His loss was severely felt in every department 
of the colony's interests. The sickness pre- 
vailed extensively among the Indians, who had 
anticipated its approach from the immense 
swarms of a species of locust which had ap- 
peared in the woods the preceding spring. 

Just before this sickness commenced several 
prominent families had removed across Plym- 
outh Harbor to the north-east, and built cabins 
on and around a beautiful hill near the shore. 
Among these were Captain Standish, John 
Alden, and Jonathan Brewster, the oldest son 
of the Elder. Their going was agreed to by 
their friends, on condition that they would 
reside in Plymouth in the winter, the better 
to attend the public worship on the Sabbath. 
This they did for several years. They called 
their new town Duxbury, probably in honor of 



YiEws FKOM Plymouth Kock. 351 

Captain Standish^ wliose ancestral home was 
in Duxbiirj, England. Cattle had become 
quite "a commodity," the pilgrims said; and 
the people of Plymouth began to push out in 
every direction to find meadow land for pas- 
turage. The trade on the Kennebec and 
" Conightecute " brought rich returns in spite 
of all obstacles, and good progress was being 
made in reducing the debt assumed by those 
having its management. But that upon the 
Connecticut came near involving the colony in 
the loss of property and more preci(^s lives by 
an Indian war. The Pequod Indians, a fierce 
tribe living in that region, murdered a Captain 
Stone and a part of his crew the next year 
after the pilgrim trade began. Stone had no 
great reputation for fairness, and the Indians 
said he had provoked them. Two years after 
this John Oldham went to trade on the Con- 
necticut. He was then a member of a new 
settlement on the Charles River, called Water- 
town ; and, it is believed, was not quite as bad 
a man as when the pilgrims ran him through 



352 Views fkom Plymouth Eock. 

the gauntlet with the thump of the butt of a 
musket and the good advice, " Go and mend 
your manners." He was at Block Island, at 
the mouth of the river, when some Pequods 
came on board for the professed purpose of 
trade, and brained him with a tomahawk, tak- 
ing as prisoners the two bojs and two men 
who were with him. These murders justly 
alarmed all the English settlers. The Massa- 
chusetts Colony hastened off a detachment of 
ninety men, whose commander sailed to Block 
Island wijjjj^ fire and swoi'd, though the carnage 
and burning was not equal to the haste and 
fierceness of the expedition. It provoked re- 
venge without exciting fear. The Pequods 
took a most horrible revenge on men, women, 
and children, and, in return, were extermi- 
nated. The war was not one of the Plymouth 
Colony, and so its exciting details do not be- 
long to this sketch. The Governor of the 
pilgrims remonstrated with the Massachusetts 
authorities for -having needlessly provoked the 
war; and Bradford says of their first expedi- 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 353 

lion, which brought on the general conflict, 
" It was done superficially and badly managed, 
and did little good." Yet when the crisis 
came, Plymouth Colony armed sixty men, and 
put them, fully provisioned at their own ex- 
pense, on board one of their own vessels. "When 
Lieutenant Holmes, their commander, was about 
to sail with his force to the seat of war, word 
came, from Massachusetts that the war was as 
good as over, and that they need not go. So 
the principal burden to the pilgrim colony of 
this famous and bloody war was the interruption 
of their trade. 

A painful incident occurred, just after the 
close of this war, within the jm-isdiction of 
Plymouth; and, as its result illustrates the 
spirit of its government, we will briefly state it, 
believing that the details would not be pleasant 
to the reader. An Irishman by the name of 
Peach, of a good family and great force of 
character, came to Plymouth after his discharge 
from service against the Pequods. He had dis- 
tinguished himself in its exciting conflicts, and 



354 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 

seems to have been restless in the tranquil 
atmosphere of the pilgrims. He was idle, con- 
tracted debts without the ability or will to 
pay, and, of course, was soon in trouble. In 
this condition he was prepared for any mischief. 
He seduced from their employers three young 
men, and wandered into the woods. As they 
four sat by the way-side, an Indian came along 
with some valuables which he had bought at 
Plymouth. Peach proposed to his companions 
to kill him and take his goods. They cared not 
to resist his will, or, perhaps, dared not. They 
were in bad company, and in the way of the 
transgressor. Peach invited the Indian "to 
drink tobacco with him ;" and, in* his unguarded 
moments, stabbed him repeatedly, and left him 
for dead. But the victim revived, and was 
found alive. Three of the guilty men, includ- 
ing Peach, were arrested, and put upon trial at 
Plymouth for murder. Among the twelve 
jurymen were Bradford, Win slow, Alden, and 
Standish. They were found guilty and hanged. 
Three white men for one Indian ; but the jus- 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 355 

tice sought by the pilgrims did not respect per- 
sons. The effect was good npon all of both 
races. 

We propose now to give a closiDg notice of 
the pilgrim business transactions. These, quite 
as much as their courts of law, illustrate the 
stern integrity of their chief men. We have 
spoken of the jostling of their trade by various 
incidents. There was one, to the pilgrims the 
most painful of all. That was the mismanage- 
ment and wrong-doing of Allerton, their agent, 
and one of their own number. He had done 
them much good, showed great energy, and 
was generously trusted. But in transacting 
their business in England lie did not adhere to 
their instructions. He launched into heavy 
and unauthorized exj)enditures, for their and 
his own individual profit. He raised their 
debt in two years from four hundred to four 
thousand pounds sterling. He was dismissed 
from their service in 1631 or 1632, but his 
accounts complicated their affairs for many 
years after. He was dealt with the more gently 



356 Views from Plymouth Book. 

for Elder Brewster's sake, whose daughter Fear 
he had married. Bradford quotes, as an expla- 
nation of his conduct, 1 Timothy vi, 9. 

After the dismissal of Allerton, Edward 
Winslow was several times sent to England by 
the pilgrims. The amount of furs sent by the 
colony surprised, under the circumstances, even 
their creditors ; and the returns by Winslow of 
high prices obtained, sometimes agreeably sur- 
prised the pilgrims themselves. One of their 
principal friends in England exclaimed, in view 
of their energy, " These Plymouth people, but 
for Allerton's mismanagement here, would 
have been the richest colony in America!" 
The debt of the colony hung upon the eight 
chief men for at least twelve years, but all ex- 
cept Dr. Fuller lived to see it extinguished. 
These " undertakers," as they were called, never 
faltered until the last penny was paid. Neither 
sickness, war, robbery, mismanagement of their 
trusted friends, nor changes in the market, caused 
them to pause. There was a Christian heroism 
in these exertions. 



Views from Plymouth Kock. 357 



CHAPTEK XXYI. 

THE PILGRIM CHURCH AND ITS CONFLICTS. 

"W"e have seen the pilgrims more than diligent 
in business. We propose now to observe them 
more closely in their religious history. 

In our last notice of the Pilgrim Church 
affairs they had the Kev. Kalph Smith as 
Pastor, the man whom they found in distress 
at ]S"antasket. Two years later a very differ- 
ent man appeared among them. He was 
young — not more than thirty years of age — 
well educated, and full of mental energy. His 
name was Roger Williams, a Welshman. He 
had come with his family to Boston in the early 
part of 1631. He there uttered some sentiments 
on religious and political freedom such as even 
the radical Puritans did not appreciate, and 
great offense was given. Just then the new 
Church at Salem desired an assistant for their 



358 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Rock. 

Pastor, Mr. Skelton, and gave Williams a call. 
The magistrates of Boston objected. Think of 
Boston office-holders telling the religious people 
of Salem who shall preach the Gospel to them ! 
But the rulers in those days believed that they 
were God's appointed guardians of religious 
faith and practice. But the Salem Church still 
said to Williams, Come, and he went. Before 
summer was out, however, the authorities of the 
Massachusetts Colony made Salem too hot for 
him, and he moved to Plymouth. The pil- 
grims received him gladly, and gave him a place 
in the pulpit of their fort-church on the hill, by 
the side of their Pastor. For about three years 
he preached to them in connection with Mr. 
Smith, to the great comfort and lasting profit 
of all. He was, indeed, a great and good man ; 
but the opinions he uttered in the unwilling 
ears of the men of Boston were freely expressed 
here, and were heard with but little more favor. 
\ A minister of the Bay Colony said he had '• a 
windmill in his head ;" but Governor Bradford, 
who loved him as a Christian and a Gospel 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 359 

minister, regarded him simply as '^ unsettled in 
judgment." Williams was, in the mean time, 
yearning to be useful to the Indians. While at 
Plymouth he formed an acquaintance with 
Massasoit, submitting to some intimacy with 
him at his own filthy wigwam, and among his 
repulsive people, to learn their language and 
character. In 1633 Mr. Skelton, of the Salem 
Church, died, and Williams was invited to return. 
The wide difference between him and the pil- 
grims on some matters of political and religious 
faith made his removal from them mutually 
agreeable, though they gave him a dismissal 
to the Salem Church without disparagement of 
his piety. He was soon banished from the 
Massachusetts Colony, and compelled to wan- 
der in the woods for months in mid-winter, 
cold and hungry. He found at last an asylum 
with his old friend Massasoit, and afterward 
became the chief founder of Providence, R. I. 
The pilgrims never aided the persecutions 
against him. Of Governor Winslow he says: 
"It pleased the Fatlier of mercies to touch 



360 "Views fkom Plymouth Eock. 

many hearts with relen tings, among whom that 
great and precious sonl, Mr. Winslow, melted, 
and kindly visited me at Providence, and pnt 
a piece of gold into the hands of my wife for 
our supply. 

Williams is known in history as one of the 
earliest and strongest friends of religious free- 
dom as it is now understood and received. 

In 1636 Mr. Smith was, in a friendly manner, 
dismissed from the pilgrim pulpit. His ability 
to feed the flock of Christ was very small, and 
they earnestly sought a more efficient shepherd. 
Fortunately they found one in the Rev. John 
Rayner, and after a short trial he was settled. 
Bradford says of him : " He was able and god- 
ly, of a meek and humble spirit, sound in the 
truth, and every way irreproachable in his life 
and conversation : with him we enjoyed many 
years of much comfort and peace and good 
agreement." 

The year after Mr. Rayner's settlement an- 
other very able, learned, and pious minister 
appeared at Plymouth. His name was Charles 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 361 

Chauncy. So well were the pilgrims pleased 
with him that they very earnestly requested 
him to be their Pastor in connection with Mr. 
Payner. So perplexed and unfortunate had 
the colony been in getting regularly-ordained 
ministers, after their own heart, that they 
seemed desirous to keep all such that might 
come to them. But, alas ! Mr. Chauncy was 
not, to their minds, quite " sound in the truth." 
He believed in immersion as the only proper 
mode of baptism, and refused to be convinced 
to the contrary, though they appointed their 
Pastor to debate the question with him public- 
ly, and invited the ministers far and near to dis* 
cuss the subject by letter. He even declined 
their proposal to baptize candidates in any 
manner which answered to their convictions 
of duty. He would immerse only. As the 
pilgrims could not sacrifice their convictions 
of truth so far as to agree to that, the good 
men parted. Chauncy became afterward the 
President of Harvard College. 

Chauncy had scarcely left Plymouth for a 



362 Views feom Plymouth Eock. 

settlement in Scituate when a professed minis- 
ter of Christ, bj the name of Gorton, came. 
With him the pilgrims were not captivated. 
They found it nearly as difficult to get rid of 
him as they did to keep Chauncy. He called 
himself " professor of the mysteries of Christ," 
and blessed God that he " was not brought up 
in the schools of human learning." He, and 
not Williams, "carried a windmill in his head;" 
and it was so peculiar in its construction that 
it fanned away all the good grain of common 
sense and left only the chaff of fanaticism. He 
gave immense trouble to all the colonies, and 
the most of them, including Plymouth, ban- 
ished him, one adding whipping. But every 
such correction increased his esteem of himself 
and his love for his errors. He was the last poor 
minister who pestered the Mayflower pilgrims. 
Their declining years were comforted by Pas- 
tors who " took heed to themselves and to all 
the flock over the which the Holy Ghost had 
made them overseers." Rayner remained with 
them eighteen years. 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Rock. 363 

But there were other and different trials for 
the little flock. The country was being better 
known, and the later emigrants found more 
fertile and attractive places for settlement than 
Plymouth. IS'ot only so, but even some of the 
early members of the Pilgrim Church, on ac- 
count of the barrenness of the place, were mov- 
ing away. In 1643 many meetings of the 
Church were held to inquire what was best 
to be done. They did not like these separa- 
tions of old Christian friends, and many whose 
affection for Plymouth was greater than their 
love for greener spots were willing to move if 
they could all go together and make one 
Church. Thus the "Forefather's Rock" and 
its environs came near being abandoned, and 
the footprints of the pilgrims here were within 
a little of being effaced. They voted to re- 
move; and, what is even more strange, pur- 
chased, after a hasty examination, a town site 
in Nauset, (now Eastham,) in the very region 
they had rejected "in their search after a 

habitation." A more accurate survey of the 

23 



364 Views from Plymouth Kock. 

place, and tlieir sober second thought led to 
the rejection of the nnwise project. The pur- 
chase had been made in the name of the whole 
Church ; but individuals who were determined 
to go assumed the financial obligation, and com- 
menced the settlement of Eastham. Among 
these were Thomas Prince, who had been twice 
elected Governor, and other leading men, whose 
names are among the prominent " Cape names" 
of the present day, such as Doane, Snow, Hig- 
gins, and Cook. These commenced a new 
Church, leaving " the mother Church " still 
more desolate. The mourning of its early mem- 
bers at this separation is thus pathetically ex- 
pressed in the old records : " Then was this poor 
Church left like an ancient mother, grown old 
and forsaken of her children in regard of their 
bodily presence and personal helpfulness; her an- 
cient members being most of them worn away by 
death, and those of later times being like children 
translated into other families ; and she, like a 
widow, left only to trust in God. Thus she that 
had made many rich became herself poor." 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 865 

There were some other trials which this 
" ancient mother " Church was called to en- 
dure, which she lamented more than the re- 
moval of her children. Some of them, both at 
Plymouth and the new Church, were learning 
to hold in light esteem the regularly-appointed 
educated ministers. They preferred exercising 
their own gifts. These persons forsook the 
house of God, and refused to support their 
pastors, so that man}^ of them had to leave their 
spiritual flocks unattended to seek a living in 
other employments. 'Not only was reverence 
foi' ministers declining, but the authority of 
rulers and the counsels of the aged were treated 
lightly. While the hearts of the pilgrims were 
aching under these sad departures from godli- 
ness "the people commonly styled Quakers" 
came among them. They certainly were not 
like those sober, excellent citizens and sincere 
Christians who bear that name now. Their 
doctrines, the pilgrims thought, in a good 
measure occasioned and every-where increased 
the grievous state of things in reference to 



366 Views from Plymouth Eock. 

ministers, the Church, and all that were in 
authority. They saw in the coming of these 
"ranters," as they called them, and "horrid 
heretics," the destruction of their fair heritage 
in the wilderness, which they had obtained by 
the sacrifice of the lives of dear friends, and by 
incessant toil and self-denial. What they fond- 
ly hoped to leave unmarred to their children, 
these came to spoil. 'No doubt these fears 
were in a great degree groundless ; there was 
in them a serious lack of that faith in God 
which had made the pilgrims at other times, 
and in reference to other trials, so morally sub- 
lime. And if their fears were supported by 
facts, and the Quakers were fierce wolves 
among the pilgrim flock, they had near them 
the Chief Shepherd on whom to call, and the 
" sword of the Spirit, the word of God," with 
its keen blade, which, surely, the pilgrims knew 
how to use. With this well wielded, and sup- 
ported by Him who died for the flock, the 
wolves would have been sent howling away. 
But, we grieve to say, they resorted to fines. 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 367 

imprisonments, banishment and whipping. To 
these penalties the Massachusetts Colony added 
death! The pilgrims did indeed pray for 
their deluded enemies, and use with them 
arguments from reason and the Bible; but 
their error was in not trusting entirely to these. 
Alas for the infirmities of good men ! It was 
many years before the l^ew England Churches 
learned " the better way." 

We have now followed the history of the 
Plymouth Colony through twenty-three years 
from the time of the landing on " The Rock." 
We have seen the struggles and triumphs of its 
trade, its stern integrity, and genuine though 
sometimes misdirected Christian zeal. We will 
now glance at the last days of those few " chief 
pilgrims " who have been the inspiration of the 
whole pilgrim enterprise from the beginning, 
and then turn to the laws and the social and 
religious customs of the community which they 
established and molded. 



308 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 



CHAPTEE XXYIL 

THE LAST DAYS OF THE CHIEF PILGRIMS. 

The larger number of the chief pilgrims lived 
to see an important era in the history of the 
Plymouth Colony. This was its union with 
the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 
New Haven, in 1643, For several years this 
union, or " confederacy " as it was called, was 
a matter of discussion. They were of one na- 
tion and religious faith. The Indians, Dutch, 
and French with whom they were surrounded 
were considered their common enemies, and 
so they wished to be united if either was at- 
tacked. Besides, a union would promote the 
interests of trade and good neighborly feeling. 
It was very much such a " confederacy" as that 
which constitutes the "United States," and 
was the beginning of that great and powerful 
"Union" which governs the Western World, 



Views fkom Plymouth Kock. 369 

and whose influence is felt every-wliere. The 
several colonies retained their independence in 
local matters. As soon as it was formed, some 
Indian chiefs, until this time having a haughty 
bearing, came and submitted to the English 
government. It was truly a fresh starting- 
point of success to the Puritan settlers generally, 
but Plymouth Colony was every year more and 
more outnumbered by the later settlements. 
She that was first became the last, but not 
in intelligence and influence. Says one of our 
great historians, " This colony, in the measure 
of its scanty means, was prosperous and ener- 
getic." 

The sketch that this volume presents does 
not extend beyond this period, except in the 
reference to the Quaker troubles, which com- 
menced in this colony in 165Y, and in the notice 
we are about to give of the last days of " the 
fathers." From this time the history of Plym- 
outh Colony is mixed with that of the other Kew 
England Colonies, until 1686, when all their char- 
ters were taken away by the King of England, 



370 YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 

and their histories in all great affairs run 
together. 

Carver^ it will be recollected, did not live 
beyond the first spring after the landing, and 
so did nothing in forming the pilgrim State, 
except by his pious example and wise counsels, 
whose influence long survived him. 

Dr. Fuller^ who died in the great sickness 
of 1633, lived long enough to be felt powerfully 
for good, not only in Plymouth but among the 
Indians, whose conversion he sought, and in 
the Massachusetts Colony, to which he was 
twice called to exercise his medical skill in 
staying a prevalent disease, and once to give 
counsel in forming a Church. 

Elder Brewster died in April 1644, and so 
lived to see " the Union " consummated. He 
was eighty- four years old, twenty-three of which 
he had spent in America. As he was the 
foremost man in the gathering of the Pilgrim 
Church, so he was, no doubt, the most influ- 
ential in its stability and growth. As we have 
seen his sun rise and steadily hold its unclouded 



Yjews from Plymouth Eock. 371 

course tlirough its meridian, let us pause awhile 
to observe it as it " melts away into the light 
of heaven." Until the able Rayner was set- 
tled, in 1637, he must have been the chief in- 
structor of the Pilgrim Church from the time 
it parted with Pobinson in Ley den. The Pas- 
tor, Ralph Smith, was greatly inferior to 
him in convicting sinners and strengthening 
believers. He is believed to have removed to 
Duxbury, with his sons Jonathan and Love, in 
1632. His wife, the companion of his youth 
and of his great changes and toils, had died 
some time before 1627. His son Wrestling 
had taken of his father the portion of goods 
falling to him and gone to live on the Pis- 
cataqua River, not, however, as a prodigal. 
Scarcely had the father become settled in his 
new cabin — for no doubt his new home would 
bear that name — when his daughter Pear, the 
wife of Isaac Allerton, died, leaving in her 
father's care her little son Isaac. 

Scarcely had time been able to mitigate the 
keen sorrow of the Elder, when the last female 



372 Views from Plymouth Rock. 

member of his faiiiil}^, his daughter Patience, 
now for some time the wife of Governor Prince, 
was called home to heaven. Coming between 
these bereavements was the marriage of his son 
Love to a Miss Collier. The bride's father was a 
long-tried and intimate friend of Elder Brewster, 
one of the Christian and steadfast " merchant 
adventurers ;" so the marriage was undoubtedly 
agreeable to both parents, and to the Elder especi- 
ally, as he found a home in his loneliness under 
the same roof wdth the young married couple. 

Here then, in Duxbury, on a spot which we 
propose to visit with the reader, did the great 
and good man spend his declining years. He 
was more than seventy years old, yet vigorous 
in body and mind. He continued to work upon 
his farm, for he ever loyed the toils of the field, 
and is said by tradition to have planted here 
the first apple-tree of 'New England. He did 
not abate his spiritual labors, for he resided in 
Plymouth during the first winters after he re- 
moved to Duxbury, and served " the mother 
Church ;" and, until 1637, was the religious 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 373 

teacher of the little Church of his neighbor- 
hood. He was still employed in the public 
service. Only seven years before his death he 
was a prominent member of a committee to 
establish a code of laws for the colony. 'No 
doubt he was much in his study, especially 
during the cold days and long evenings of 
winter. His library consisted of four hundred 
choice volumes, including many valuable works 
of the Christian Fathers, and the Bible in seve- 
ral languages. It was one of the most costly 
and valuable in America at that time. One of 
its old Latin volumes, over which the Elder 
devoutly pored, is now in the Athenaeum 
Library of Boston. On its illuminated title- 
page, in the trembling hand of its pilgrim 
owner, is written in Latin, " Man is all vanity." 
It seems t.o have been his motto, at least in his 
old age, for the same is written in one of his 
volumes now in the library of Tale College. 

The closing moments of the veteran pilgrim 
were full of serenity. They are thus described 
by Bradford, for nearly fifty years his junior 



374 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

companion: "Upheld to a great age, notwith- 
standing the many troubles and sorrows which 
he had j)assed through, he had this blessing 
added to all the rest, to die in his bed in peace, 
in the midst of his friends, who mourned and 
wept over him, and administered to him what 
help and comfort thej could; and he again, 
while he could, recomforted them. His sick- 
ness was not long. Until the last day he did 
not wholly keep his bed, and his speech con- 
tinued until a little more than half a day, when 
it failed ; and at about nine or ten that evening, 
without a pang, as a man fallen into a sound 
sleep, he sweetly departed this life into a 
better." 

Of his children, two sons only lived to attend 
his dying moments, and to follow his dust to 
the grave, namely. Love and Jonathan, both 
living at Duxbury. Wrestling had died some 
years before at Portsmouth, ]^ew Hampshire. 
Prom some hints in the old record we learn 
that the Elder was interred on " Burial Hill," 
that place consecrated by his faithful religious 



YiEws FKOM Plymouth Rock. 375 

teaching in tlie old Fort Church. No stone 
marks his resting-place, but 

"The soul, immortal as its Sire, 
Shall never die." 

Standish was the next one of the " old stand- 
ards " to pass away. He died in Duxbury in 
1656, at an advanced age. He was the mili- 
tary leader of the colony to the last. At the 
alarm of warlike preparations by the Narra- 
gansetts, in 1645, he took command of the 
Plymouth soldiers, mustered for active service ; 
and again, in 1653, he was at the head of the 
war council in reference to Dutch aggressions. 
He and his long-tried friend Brewster were 
immediate neighbors during the last twelve 
years of the Elder's life. Standish appears in 
the pilgrim history mainly as an energetic and 
skillful soldier, though he was long "an assist- 
ant " to the Governor, a trusted business agent, 
and Treasurer of the colony. There is a tra- 
ditional anecdote of his early colonial years 
which has found its way into all the later his- 



376 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

tories. It runs tlius : Having lost his wife in 
the first winter's sickness, he desired his friend, 
John Alden, to " pop the question" for him to 
Priscilla Mnllins, a young lady who had come 
over in the Mayflower witli her parents. Al- 
den did the errand promptly, if not wilhngly. 
Priscilla looked at the messenger, who was cer- 
tainly much younger, if not handsomer, than 
the friend who had sent him, and said archly, 
" Prithee, John, why do you not speak for 
yourself? " So John did speak for himself, for 
what less could he do under such circumstances, 
and in due time he went to Cape Cod, where 
Priscilla was living, to be married. He rode 
on the back of a bull, for horses were not intro- 
duced into New England for many years after. 
When returning with his bride he put a hand- 
some piece of broadcloth upon the bull's back, 
set her upon it, and gallantly trudged by her 
side, leading the animal by a ring in his nose. 

As the tradition goes, the Captain, who was 
not eminent for his meekness, never forgave 
John. But the whole story sounds like a pretty 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Rock. 377 

piece of fireside gossip. The Captain was not 
wont to do important business in so cowardly a 
way. John Alden is reputed to have been a 
pilgrim of the strictest sort, standing upon the 
nicest point of honor ; and as to the Captain's 
life-long pique at his friend John, it is made 
unlikely by their intimacy for many years in 
the Governor's council, their moving together 
to Duxbury and living there as neighbors, and 
lastly, hj the marriage of the Captain's daughter 
to Alden's son. 

We wish we could speak, as in the case of 
Brewster, of the evidence that this famous war- 
rior was also an eminent Christian. Though 
sharing the privations and ever aiding in the 
great work of the pilgrims, and evidently loving 
their society to the end, there is nothing said of 
his religious faith and hope. 

It is not probable that when the Plymouth 
Colony were paying honors to the martial re- 
mains of their military leader that they knew 
that another of their first men had fallen. 
Edward Winslow, the ex-Governor, the faithful 



378 Views from Plymouth Rock. 

business inan, the wise counselor, tlie steadfast 
friend and true Christian, died in May, 1655. 
His last days were much occupied, after the 
happy close of the pilgrim money obligations, 
in negotiations in England for the United 
Colonies. Once while there he was called be- 
fore the government authorities to answer to 
certain charges in reference to his conduct at 
Plymouth. His accuser was that miserable 
Thomas Morton whom Standish routed from 
Mount Wollaston. The accusations were like 
the accuser. "Winslow, he said, had spoken in 
the public religious meetings without a minis- 
ter's ordination. To this the accused answered, 
'' It is true ; and this we regard as the privilege 
of Christian men, especially if called upon by 
the pastor." "And you marry, not being a 
clergyman?"" "Yes," it was replied, "as a 
magistrate I do, we at Plymouth believing 
marriage to be a civil compact." Neverthe- 
less, the accusation being so serious (!) and the 
witness being so respectable, ( !) and the accused 
person being only a pilgrim, he was put in 



YiEWs FROM Plymouth Rock. 379 

prison, and detained in close confinement for 
seventeen weeks! 

Governor Winslow's residence, after the re- 
movals from Plymouth commenced, was in 
Marshfield. He named his place Careswell, 
after an English castle. This beautiful country 
seat remained in the Winslow family until 
within the memory of some now living. Gov- 
ernor Winslow was in England in 1655, when 
Oliver Cromwell appointed him to a public 
service in the fleet sent to the West Indies. 
He died on shipboard, and was buried in the 
sea with the honors of war. More fitting, it 
would seem, to his life would have been a death 
among his people, and a psalm sung over his 
grave on Burial HilL 

Scarcely had the grave closed over Standish 

before William Bradford died. For thirty-one 

years he was at the head of the Plymouth 

afi'airs, for the most of the time as Governor. 

When first elected to that office, after Carver's 

death, he was only thirty-two years old. He 

was a good ruler, using* his great influence not 
24 



380 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 

only for the political but for the educational 
interests of his people. He is said to have been 
zealous for the public instruction of the chil- 
dren, and in spirit belonged to the later historj 
of Kew England. His last home was, we have 
been told, on Jones River, about half way to the 
Duxbury residence of his friends, Brewster and 
Standish. He died in March, 1657, in the 
sixty-ninth year of his age, and was buried, no 
doubt, on Burial Hill, where he had so often 
worshiped ; but no one can point us to his 
grave, and no monument but that of his great 
and good deeds perpetuates his memory. 

John Howland^ who had been often an "as- 
sistant" and trusted agent of colonial business, 
died in 1672, at the age of eighty. Though 
coming over in the Mayflower as a sei'vant in 
Governor Carver's family he rose to be a chief 
pilgrim, and was honored in his life and greatly 
mourned at his death. 

John Alden lived to be eighty-nine years old, 
and died in 1686. He is said to have been the 
last survivor of the Mayflower pilgrims ; and it 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 381 

is a singular fact that tradition lias represented 
him as the first to leap upon the Eock at the 
landing. But both of these claims for Alden 
are doubtful. A daughter of Isaac Allerton, 
who was one of the children in the Mayflower, 
is believed to have been living at JSTew Haven 
in 1698. After the death of Captain Standish 
he was for some time Treasurer of the Colony. 
It was said of him, " He possessed much native 
talent, was decided, ardent, and persevering, 
indifferent to danger ; a bold and hardy man ; 
stern, austere, and unyielding; of exemplary 
piety and incorruptible integrity ; an iron-nerved 
Puritan, who could hew down forests and live 
on crumbs. He hated innovations and changes, 
steadily walked in the ways of his youth, and 
adhered to the principles and habits of those 
whom he had been taught to honor." 

Alden was not from Leyden, but hired at 
Southampton. The pilgrims said of him then 
that "he was a hopeful young man." He died 
with the extinction of the Plymouth Colony. 

Isaac Allerton^ we have seen for a long time 



382 YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 

prominent and useful among the first pilgrims, 
but at a later period become entangled in the 
meshes of Mammon. After leaving Plymouth, 
in 1631 or 1632, he traded awhile on the coast 
of Maine, and then went among the Dutch at 
the mouth of the Hudson Piver. He removed 
to New Haven in 1647, where "he built a 
grand house on the creek, with four porches," 
and where he died in 1659. His sons settled 
in Maryland. 

It is an interesting fact that the descendents 
of these chief pilgrims have been among the dis- 
tinguished names of New England. Brewster, 
Bradford, and "Win slow left sons who had risen 
to prominence in the colonies before the death 
of their fathers. From John Alden descended 
two Presidents of the United States, John 
Adams and John Quincy Adams. From the 
marriage of Alden's son to Standish's daugh- 
ter came Wheelock of Dartmouth College, and 
Kirkland of Harvard College. From the un- 
distinguished Mayflower pilgrim, George Soule, 
came the eminent Joshua Soule, late Bishop of 



Views feom Plymouth Rock. 383 

the Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Soule 
visited his relations in Duxbnrj during one of 
his last official visits to New England. 

Thus is the seed of the righteous blessed. / 

Turning from the closing history of the 

standard-bearers, let us study the character of 

their little commonwealth in the curious laws 

by which they were governed. 



384 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 



CHAPTER XXYIII. 

CUEIOUS LAWS. 

The situation of the pilgrims was peculiar. 
They were far from the King who claimed a 
right to rule over them. They were almost 
alone in the midst of a vast country. Their 
dangers were many, their habits simple, and 
their wants few. It is no wonder, therefore, 
that their form of government was simple and 
their laws singular. We shall want to know 
something about both in order to understand 
their history and character. 

The pilgrims formed at iirst, and lived under, 
a kind of association, of which " the compact " 
signed in the Mayflower's cabin was "the con- 
stitution." It was a voluntary association ruled 
by the majority. The officers at first were a 
Governor and Assistant; the number of the 
assistants was soon increased to seven, and, 



Views fkom Plymouth Kock. 385 

with the ruling Elder, and Pastor when they 
had one, were the Governor's counselors. The 
pilgrims were quite particular, in administering 
the oaths of office, to recognize the right of the 
English Government to rule over them; but 
they made no very definite practical reference 
to the superior power of the King or the Par- 
liament in their government, and the English 
people were giving both too much trouble to 
leave them any time to molest their brethren 
across the ocean. They came to the 'New 
World to be free, and they were so. President 
John Adams said that their policy " was founded 
on revelation and reason too. It was consist- 
ent with the best, greatest, and wisest legislators 
of antiquity." 

The forty-one persons who signed the compact, 
thus forming a little State, and constituting 
themselves citizens, voted into their number 
whom they pleased. Those thus made "free- 
men " had equal rights with the original mem- 
bers, and a majority of the whole made the 
laws. Persons were admitted of "competent 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

estates and civil conversation, though of different 
judgments, yet being otherwise orthodox." 

The Governor for a long time had no pay 
except when on duty, and then only " a living," 
though his duties were often responsible and 
difficult. Very great deference was paid to 
those in office, as our narrative has shown ; yet 
empty honors seem not to have captivated the 
plain pilgrims, for they shunned office. Church 
members sometimes refused to become freemen 
for fear of being put into office ; and a fine of 
one hundred dollars was imposed upon any per- 
son chosen governor who refused to serve, and 
fifty for refusing to be assistant, unless the per- 
sons elected had just served a year. The later 
children of the pilgrims have not needed such a 
law. 

Yery early the scattered population of the 
colony was divided into towns, and " town meet- 
ings" became a means of local government. 
They were held at first in the churches, and, 
later, in " town houses " built for the purpose. 
They were the primary schools in which the 



YiEws FEOM Plymouth Eock. 387 

people learned to make their own laws and 
govern themselves. 

When the little pilgrim commonwealth was 
but three years old, it declared by the General 
Court "that all criminal facts, and all matters 
of trespasses, and debts between man and 
man, should be tried by the verdict of twelve 
honest men." Thus early did they manifest 
their desire to deal justly by all. 

But very few court records were made until 
1632. From this time they were kept with 
great care so long as the Plymouth Colony 
lasted. These records have been printed in 
many large volumes by the State of Massachu- 
setts, and contain curious things which illus- 
trate the character of our pilgrim fathers. We 
shall give a few of them. We must remember 
their peculiar position, and the kind of people 
who were to be governed, in judging of the 
laws. 

The first offense in the colony which called 
for the notice of the court was committed by 
John Billington, whose reputation was a very 



388 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 

sad one. He was not a Leyden emigrant nor a 
pilgrim, but one of those smuggled on board the 
Mayflower at Southampton. From the first lie 
was annoying to the pilgrims, who bore long and 
patiently with him. In the spring of 1621 he 
indulged in contempt of Captain Standish's 
lawful authority, and hurled at him "op- 
probrious speeches." This was putting his 
hands into the lion's mouth. He was • con- 
victed by the Court, and sentenced " to have his 
neck and heels tied together." He was not 
long in this position before he learned respect 
for law, and begged so hard for forgiveness that 
a part of his sentence was abated. 

The pilgrims were jealous not only for the 
honor of their State, but for the whole law of 
God. They "ordered that profane swearing 
should be punished by sitting in the stocks 
three hours, or by imprisonment." It makes 
us sad to think how many men and boys, and 
even women, would sj)end in these days much 
of their life " in the stocks " if they were put 
there three hours for every profane word ! But 



YiEws FEOM Plymouth Eock. 389 

they are now wisely left in the hands of God, 
who has said, " Thou shalt not take the name 
of the Lord thy God in vain." 

The pilgrims enacted also that telling lies 
should be punished by a fine or sitting in the 
stocks. Under this law a certain woman was 
brought before the Court, but the grave judges 
contented themselves with admonishing her "to 
be wary of giving offense to others by unneces- 
sary talking.'''' Most excellent advice, and in 
full agreement with the spirit of the divine 
command concerning the use of the tongue, 
and, no doubt, Mrs. ^'M. B." profited by it. 
But one Mr. " Smith " was not dismissed so 
gently; for he having lied about "seeing a 
whale, and other things," was fined twenty 
shillings. 

A young couple — no doubt they were young 
or they would not have behaved so naughtily 
in such a matter — for marrying improperly, 
without their parents' consent, were fined fifty 
dollars, and sentenced to imprisonment during 
the pleasure of the Court. But they escaped 



390. YiEWs FROM Plymouth Kock. 

the penalty by satisfactory confession, and con- 
senting to a regular form of marriage. 

One "R. B." was "summoned to answer for 
speaking contemptuously of singing psalms, 
was convicted of the fact, and promised that 
he would be warned of so doing for the future. 
The Court sharply admonished him that he 
should acknowledge his fault, which he en- 
gaged to do, and was discharged." 

One Mrs. Bessy was brought before the Court 
for her cruel and unnatural practice toward 
her father-in-law in " chopping of him in the 
back." Sentenced to be whipped; and, no 
doubt, all the people said " Amen." Certain 
other members of the same family were found 
guilty of the same thing, "though not in so 
high a degree." They were made to sit in the 
stocks. 

The pilgrims kept a watchful eye on those 
whose places in God's house were vacant on 
the Sabbath, and " R. G. was fined ten shillings 
for neglecting public worship." 

The Sabbath, we have seen, w^as to them a 



Views feom Plymouth Kock. 391 

loved, holy day, in which, under all circum- 
stances, whether at home or abroad, whether 
with friends or enemies, all worldly business 
was laid aside. It is no wonder, then, that 
they made laws against Sabbath-breaking, and 
that a certain " J. W. was sharply reproved by 
the Court for writing a note upon common 
business on the Lord's day ;" and that others 
were punished for like offenses. 

They prized the Bible above all price, and 
over its pages they constantly pored most de- 
voutly. It was natural, then, that they should 
want others to do so, and that any one who did 
not love it grieved and shocked them. But it 
was very unwise for them to say that "any 
person denying the Scriptures to be a rule of 
life should be whipped at the discretion of the 
magistrates, so as it shall not extend to life or 
limb." People cannot be whipped into a be- 
Kef of the Bible, and God has reserved the 
punishment of all final unbelievers to himself. 

They very properly thought that card-playing 
was against the best interests of the little State, so 



392 YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 

they " ordered that card-playing should be pun- 
ished with a fine of fifty shillings. Servants or 
children ^^laying at cards, dice, or other unlaw- 
ful games, for the first offense to be corrected 
by their parents or master ; for the second to be 
publicly whipped." 

The pilgrims, having come into the wilder- 
ness to escape the persecutions of King James, 
very early made laws against the intrusion into 
their colony of a more cruel and powerful 
tyrant. They said to King Alcohol, " Be very- 
careful how you come among us ; we do not want 
you except by the permission of very discreet 
men, and under certain peculiar circumstances." 
He would have received a fitting treatment if 
he had, whenever he appeared, been cast into 
the sea. But they only said, " The sales of 
strong liquors and wines are forbidden to all ex- 
c&pt strangers, and not allowed to them without 
a license." We think this law increased the 
number of " strangers." 

The marriage covenant among the pilgrims 
was not made in the presence of ministers, but 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 393 

before magistrates ; and so tliese officers of the 
law were charged to see that husbands and 
wives bore themselves kindly toward each other. 
" H. R., for abusing her husband, was sentenced 
to be publicly whipped at the post ; at the ear- 
nest entreaty of herself and others, and promis- 
ing amendment, it was suspended ; but if at 
any other time she be taken with the like fault 
it is to be executed." 

Slanderers, whom the pilgrims abhorred in a 
special manner, they being so far removed from 
their own honest mode of speech, were promptly 
taken in hand. So '' S., the daughter of R. K., 
was presented for slander, and found guilty; 
ordered to be punished severely by whipping." 

" A. H., for making a proposal of marriage 
to E. P., and for prosecuting the same contrary 
to her parents' liking, and without their con- 
sent, and directly contrary to their mind and 
will, was sentenced to pay a fine of five pounds, 
and find security for good behavior, and desist 
the use of any means to obtain or retain her 
affections." The fine and admonition were not 



394 Views feom Plymouth Eook. 

without effect; for "A. H. did solemnly and 
seriously engage before the Court that he will 
wholly desist, and never apply himself for the 
future, as formerly he hath done, to Miss E. P. 
in reference unto marriage." 

In 1639 the pilgrims undertook the difficult 
task of " ordering " the dress of the ladies. " It 
was ordered that no garment shall be made 
with short sleeves ; and such as have garments 
with short sleeves shall not wear the same un- 
less they cover their arm to the wrist ; and, 
hereafter, no person whatever shall make any 
garment for women with sleeves more than 
twenty-two and a half inches." 

Though some of these laws exhibit the pil- 
grims in a character of austerity, they aimed at 
the good of all ; and many other laws show 
great tenderness and generosity. There came 
among them at one time a certain Mr. Ling, 
" a merchant venturer at the beginning of the 
colony, who, being fallen to decay, felt great 
extremity and poverty." To him the Court, in 
its own poverty, appropriated a hundred dollars. 



Views from Plymouth Eock. 395 

The Plymoutli Colony began very early to 
feel the destitution of the section of country in 
which they were located in respect to timber 
for mechanical purposes, and accordingly, in 
1626 they decreed by the Court, that no boat 
or building material, or whatever tended to the 
destruction of the timber, should be exported. 
They held, too, at the same time, as very pre- 
cious, the services of their handicraftsmen." 
The court ordered that " tailors, shoemakers, 
carpenters, joiners, smiths, sawyers, which do 
or may reside or belong to this plantation of 
Plymouth, shall not use their trade at home or 
abroad for any strangers or foreigners till such 
time as the necessity of the colony be served, 
without consent of the Governor and Council." 

At the same period they tried to regulate by 
law the trade in corn, beans^ and peas, and for- 
bade that any should be sold to go out of the 
colony without leave from the Governor. 

At the important period of " the Confedera- 
tion," in 1643, the Plymouth Colony numbered 
eight towns and three thousand people. It 



396 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

now commenced a new career, strengthened to 
receive the many thousands of the oppressed 
yet in the Old World, who were awaiting with 
deep anxiety the result of the mighty struggle 
which was going on between the King and the 
people, and looking to the ~^ew World as a 
refuge if the battle should turn against them. 

Having just looked in upon the court of our 
ancestors, let us now enter their churches and 
homes, to glance at their social comforts and 
religious provisions and privileges. If some of 
their ways seem singular, we shall, nevertheless, 
find the people honest, cheerful, and for the 
most part truly pious. 



Views from Plymouth Rock. 397 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

DOMESTIC AND RELIGIOUS CUSTOMS. 

Having had so intimate an acquaintance with 
the pilgrims, we naturally desire a closer view 
of their home life. We shall expect to find 
them living in houses which are comfortable 
and tidy, if not elegant, and to see them giving 
attention to education and religion. 

The first houses were made of logs, and, 
probably — we do not know certainly — much in 
the style of the log-cabins of our present 
pioneers. They were thatched with straw or 
reeds at first ; but these were so easily set on 
fire, that in 1627 a law was made requiring 
roofs to be covered with boards. Dwelling 
houses soon became varied in style according 
to the taste of the owner, yet a general uniform- 
ity prevailed. A specimen of one of the oldest 
styles of building is still standing in Medfield, 



398 Views fkom Plymouth Kock. 




Mass., eigliteen miles south-west of Boston. It 
is known to have been built before quite all of 
the Mayflower company had passed away. It 
has a very steep roof with two attic stories, being 
only ten feet from the ground to the eves, while 
it is twelve from the eves to the top of the roof. 
We do not think this style was common in the 
early days of the colonj^, but one of still great- 
er peculiarity bears the marks of being bet- 
ter adapted to that age, a truthful picture of 
which is seen above. In the middle of these 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 



399 



dwellings there was an enormous chimne}-, con- 
taining bricks enough to build a moderate-sized 
modern cottage. The upper story was larger 
than the lower one, making a projection just 
over the lower windows. A tradition says that 
this device was intended for the better defense 
of the house against Indian attacks, the projec- 
tion enabling the occupants to fire down upon 
those who attempted to force tlie window^s or 

doors. The win- 
dows had small 
diamond lights, 
set in lead sashes. 
A few of those an- 
cient houses still 
linger, scattered here and there in the older 
settlements. "Within a few years, one which 
was standing near Dock Square and Faneuil 
Hall, Boston, bearing the date upon its plastered 
gable of 1680, gave way to the ruthless march 
of improvement. 

In all the pilgrim houses was the ample fire- 
place, in one corner of which, or before the 




400 Views feom Plymouth Eock. 

blazing fire, stood " the settle^'' a bench with a 
high, close back to keep off the wind from the 
opening door. Blocks of wood sat abont the 
room or by the fire for the yoimg folks. It is 
presnmed that "sanded floors" were in early 
use, as paint was an expensive article. 

While the furniture was, of course, very 
plain, and not very abundant, there are ac- 
counts of a few exceptions even among the 
early settlers. Some of the pilgrims were men 
of wealth, who, when they fled from oppression 
to America, brought a few of their luxuries with 
them. It was probably later than the Mayflower 
pilgrims' day when the ornamental chimney- 
pieces, made of Dutch tiles, began to be used ; 
but they date back quite early in the history of 
our fathers, while a few of them linger at this 
day as mementoes of past generations. 

The general costume of the pilgrims was, no 
doubt, that which they brought with them from 
England, and was after the fashion of the times. 
It looks to us like a very sober kind of dress. 
The broad -brimmed hat with a receding crown, 



YiEWs FROM Plymouth Rock. 401 




worn by the women as well as the men, is a 
very sensible-looking article, being made of 
soft and durable material. Indeed, they seem 
to become the women well, and if introduced 
now might have quite a fashionable run, and 
be an improvement over the present modes. 
The white linen collar of the men, sharp-pointed 
in front, and laid over upon the coat almost to 
the shoulder, would better, we think, become the 
women ; but their flowina:, loose coats, long vests 



402 Views feom Plymouth Eock. 

reaching to the hips and open at the bottom, be- 
come them well, and look comfortable and manly. 
Their trousers extending to the knees, and hose 
fitting closely to the well-developed calves, 
with broad buckles on shoes rather delicate for 
such ample feet, complete the peculiar costume. 
Cleanly and wholesome-looking were these pil- 
grims, and not without a certain unaffected 
grace of manners, if the pictures of them which 
have come to us are correct. 

Having glanced at the dwellings and persons 
of the pilgrims, let us enter their homes and 
partake of their hospitality. The entertain- 
ment will be cordial, without unmeaning com- 
pliments. "Brown bread," made of rye and 
Indian meal, will certainly be set before us, 
for it is known to have been early a common 
article of food with the Plymouth settler^; 
" Hasty pudding " and milk will, perhaps, 
make our wholesome supper. If our imagined 
visit is to a Mayflower family, tea and coffee 
will not be known ; perhaps, if it is in the 
summer, they may have beer made of roots 



I 



YiEWs FEOM Plymouth Eock. 403 

from the forest; for they brought from the 
fatherland the idea that heer was better than 
pure spring water, and their children soon 
adopted the foolish notion that cider was better 
than that universal good gift of God. So cider, 
apples, and nuts became the pilgrim dessert, 
which were served up in the long winter even- 
ings, while friends gathered about a rousing 
fire of enormous logs. 

Succotash^ a preparation of beans and corn, 
and herring, both articles of food borrowed 
from Indian housekeeping, will be freely served ; 
and in the winter we may be treated to a bowl 
of samp, also a native dish made of corn. 

Deer, wild fowl, and fish were, doubtless, 
staple articles in pilgrim families. Quite early 
the practice became common of serving up salt 
fish 071 Saturdays, not on Fridays, for the pil- 
grim would not even seem to follow a religious 
usage of Koman Catholics. 

It is well known that the Plymouth Colony 
gave early an earnest attention to popular edu- 
cation. When their enemies among the mer- 



404: YiEws FKOM Plymouth Eock. 

chant adventurers accused them of not teaching 
their children, Bradford, referring to another 
absurd complaint, said it was just as true as 
that the water of their springs was impure. 
They at first made the Bible the principal text- 
book. Children learned to read from the 
Psalms of David. When the Massachusetts 
Colony laid the foundation of a, college in Cam- 
bridge, in 1636, the Plymouth Colony became 
its early friend and patron ; and when the print- 
ing-press was established at the same place they 
were prompt iu availing -themselves of its aid 
to help forward their efforts to instruct the 
whole people. Military training of some sort 
necessarily became a part of the education of 
their young men. Hence the militia laws, and 
yearly " trainings," and the required use of guns, 
old match-locks at first, to which " a rest " was 
attached ; that is, a stick to thrust into tlie 
ground, on which to rest it when taking aim 
in firing. 

But it is in the religious history of the Ply- 
mouth Colony that the most striking feature 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 405 

of the pilgrim character is seen. In 1643 the 
colony had ten ministers; that is, a Grospel 
preacher to every three hundred of the popu- 
lation. Eobei-t Cnshman, with whom the reader 
has become some acquainted, has the honor of 
preaching the first sermon ; it was delivered, 
probably, in the " common-house ;" for at that 
time — the summer of 1621 — the " block-house " 
church on Fort Hill was not built. Its subject 
was emigration — the cause and true spirit of 
the pilgrim emigration to America. Cushman 
was not a preacher, and his sermon seems rather 
an earnest religious counsel to pilgrims on 
the proper spirit of their pilgrimage; and we 
should give the honor of the first and many 
next succeeding sermons to Elder Brewster, 
who was Christ's honored minister, whatever 
he lacked in title. The first church edifice 
was erected at the public expense in 1648.* 
It stood on the north side of the " Town 
Square," at the foot of Fort Hill, and for forty 
year^its bell — for even the first church had a 

*See Frontispiece. 



406 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 

bell — rang out a call to its holy service. It 
is rather strange that we have no information 
concerning the architectural style of this first 
church. How interesting would be its " photo- 
graph ! " 

An early pilgrim construction of church 
edifices was square, with a four-sided roof run- 
ning to a point on the center, on which was a 
belfry and bell. There were doors on three 
sides of the building, each often covered by " a 
porch," in which were three doors. One of these 
ancient buildings, with all its peculiarities, stood 
on Lynn Common, Mass., within the memory 
of some of the present generation. 

The pilgrims required the men and women 
to sit apart on opposite sides of the church. 
The boys were seated in the middle, in front of 
the preacher, and under the eye of the deacon, 
whose seat was near the pulpit stairs. In ad- 
dition to these restraints the boys had a '' tith- 
ing-man " seated in their midst. It is pre- 
sumed that these young folks were guilty of no 
disorderly conduct. 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Rock. 407 

The men came to church in the early days each 
with his gun, for fear of the savages, and armed 
sentinels were stationed outside. The " well-to- 
do" people rode to church on horses fitted 
with saddles and -'pillions," which conveyed 
two persons, to whom sometimes a child was 
added. But most of the people walked, not 
accounting five or six miles any too much toil 
in order to hear the word of life ; and instances 
are recorded in which mothers walked ten or 
twelve miles for years together, not unfre- 
quently carrying their infants in their arms. 
!N"o vehicles of any sort were much in use 
during the existence of the Plymouth Colony. 

There were two public services on the Sab- 
bath, morning and afternoon, with a short 
intermission. The sermon was one hour long, 
measured by an hour-glass. They sang the 
Psalms without the aid of instruments. The 
simple reading of the Scriptures without ex- 
planation was not practiced. It was contempt- 
uously called " dumb reading," and was much 
disapproved. There were no stoves in the house 



408 Views feom Plymouth Eock. 

of God to abate the cold of the severest winter. 
'No doubt, even under these physical incon- 
veniences, the Sabbath service was the spiritual 
feast of the week. Having endured banish- 
ment for the free enjoyment of its privileges, 
they improved it gladly in the midst of war's 
alarms and winter's colds. 

The pilgrim children were carried to church 
to receive baptism when but a few weeks old, 
and, as they increased in years, were taught 
great deference to older persons. The adults 
were very discriminating in bestowing marks 
of respect upon one another. The prefixes 
" Mr." and " Mrs." were bestowed only upon 
persons of some social pre-eminence, always 
including the minister and his wife. Others 
were addressed as " good-man," " good- wife," or 
'' good-woman." 

Having thus followed the pilgrims from 
Scrooby to Plymouth, and seen them in their 
trials and successes; having looked into their 
courts of law, houses of worship, and well- 
ordered homes ; the curious reader may inquire 



YiEWs FEOM Plymouth Eock. 409 

whether they have left any mementoes about 
their Plymouth residence. We have seen their 
early, can we trace their last, footprints. We 
should like to take a literal view from Plymouth 
Rock. Let us do so. 



410 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

"PILGKIM HALL" VISITED. 

It was a beautiful morning in October, 1867, 
when we took the cars at the Old Colony depot, 
Boston, for Plymouth, about one month earlier in 
the season than the arrival of the Mayflower at 
Provincetown Bay. The trees were clothed in 
their autumnal beauty. There were Intervals 
of the country through which we passed, be- 
tween the villages, which presented an aspect 
doubtless not much different from that which 
they wore in the pilgrim days. The encroach- 
ments of civilization have not taken away all 
the silent grandeur of the rocky hills, and 
the wide range of forest trees. The foliage 
which these forests presented must have been 
to our fathers one of the most marked features 
of the country. They had seen nothing like it 
in the fatherland, nor in their sojournings in 



Views from Plymouth Kock. 411 

Holland. The deep, mellow greens, tlie scarlet 
and golden colorings, shaded by the somber 
rocks, well illustrated the cold sternness which 
attended the genuine beauty and tenderness in 
their own character. There was, no doubt, a 
fitness here of the country to the j^ilgrims, and 
to their noble, but to the world strange, purpose. 

But we were interrupted in this current of 
thought by the pause of the cars and the shout 
" Plymouth ! " The depot is in the north part 
of the town, and the first sounds which salute 
the ears of the visitor to this historic shrine are 
the clatter of machinery and the puflf of the 
steam-engine, the earnest asserters of the spirit 
of progress in New England's material prof^ 
perity. 

The first object of interest with us, because 

the nearest to the depot, was Pilgrim Sail. It 

is a substantial stone building with a vestibule 

of wood. In front is a piece of the boulder 

upon which the pilgrims first stepped when 

they landed, the coming of which to this 

position we shall have occasion more fally to 
26 



412 YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 

notice. It is surrounded by an iron fence. In 
the draper}^ around the top of this fence are cast 
the names of the signers of the compact in the 
cabin of the Mayflower. We do not appreciate 
the taste which has given a funereal air to the 
surroundings of this precious memento. 

Entering the building you are met by a 
courteous old gentleman, who for twenty cents 
admits you to a sight of the treasures within. 
He has Russell's " Pilgrim Memorial " to sell, 
the purchase of which will greatly aid the visitor, 
not only while in the Hall, but at every point 
of his observation. 

The " Carver Chair " is near the door as you 
enter the ante-room to the Hall. It is ample 
in its dimensions, has the remains of a "flag 
bottom," over which has been nailed by some 
modern owner, who had an eye more to the use- 
ful than the historic, a piece of canvas. It was 
never a highly-finished article, and if it was 
ever substantial^ age has so much weakened it 
that if some modern f^alstafl" were to sit in it 
the crash would be decisive. The Yankee, 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 413 




-^ER* 



however, with his open knife, has evidently 
ventured to occupy it. It has been whittled 
most sacrilegiously, a thing which the careful 
old gentleman having the present charge would 
certainly " nip in the bud." 

The Brewster chair, occupying a place, very 
properly, beside that of the Governor, is still 
more whittled and weak in the joints. They 



414 Views fkom Plymouth Kock. 




both give a fitting idea of the comfort rather 
than the elegance sought by their original 
owners. These, no doubt, sat often side by side 
in them, in the Mayflower, during its perilous 
passage across the ocean, and the long wait- 
ing at Cape Cod. If they could speak, how 
much they would tell of the heroic will and 



YiEWs FKOM Plymouth Eock. 415 

the quiet Christian faith of their early occu- 
pants. We sat down with caution and rev- 
erence in the Carver chair. We should have 
preferred sitting in the seat of the Elder, but 
our fears, quite as much as our modesty, forbade 
it. The reader may laugh at our sentimental- 
ism, but the associations did for the moment 
deeply move us. 

We must not pause to notice so minutely 
every relic. Our guide has already gently re- 
minded us that we shall need a long time to get 
round at this rate. Here is a deed " written 
and signed" in June 30, 1688, by Peregrine 
White, who was born, it will be recollected, in 
the Mayflower. The whole execution is most 
creditable to one born and "brought up" in 
days of small educational privileges and great 
labor and sacrifices. The handwriting is not 
only very plain, but approaching, in the form 
of some of its capital letters, to elegance. Be- 
side this hangs a still older deed, dated August 
28, 1655. It is acknowledged before Captain 
Standish, who?e signature is firm and a little 



416 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Rock. 

flourishmg. We notice tliat he writes it Myles, 
and not " Miles," as it is now generally printed. 
We do not know whether the Captain adhered 
uniformly to this spelling, for the pilgrims de- 
lighted in the variety of their orthography for 
the same proper name. 

As we pass along we shall not fail to notice 
the "last will and testament" of Captain 
Standish. The following is a copy in part : 
"My will is, that out of my whole estate my 
funeral charges to be taken out, and my body 
to be buried in a decent manner; and if I die in 
Duxborrow, my body to be layed as neare as 
conveniently can bee to my two dear daughters, 
Lora Standish, my daughter, and Mary Standish, 
my daughter-in-law." 

This is dated March 7, 1655. 

In the same frame with this will is a samjplcr 
wrought by this daughter Lora, who differs, 
however, from her father in spelling her name. 
We noticed no date upon it ; but it is, of 
course, much older than the will, and perhaps 
(juite near the time of the landing. It is in the 



YiEWs FKOM Plymouth Kock. 417 

style of execution much like those wrought by 
our New England mothers of a later day. 
The following is the inscription, wrought, we 
we suppose, with reverent care : 

" Lorea Standish is my name. 
Lord, guide my hart that I may doe thy will, 
Also fill my hands with such convenient skill 
As may conduce to virtue void of shame, 
And I will give the glory to thy name. 

Yery different associations cluster round the 
Standish sword. It is not elegant nor large. 
It was evidently not made for display at mili- 
tary reviews, but for the stern reality of war ; 
and if it is that, as tradition says, with which 
he cut off the head of the bloody-minded Indian 
at Weymouth, then it has proved itself the 
sword of vengeance. It looks now placid and 
peaceful, and we have no doubt has ever been 
so to all but evil doers. 

The Standish pewter dishes, which lie by the 
sword, are much more formidable in their line 
than the weapon of war. Their dimensions 
are enormous, and if they indicate the scale on 



418 YiEws FKOM Plymouth Kock. 




which his dinners were served up his appetite 
must have been as voracious as his sword was 
valiant ; but we suppose they were reserved for 
the honored Thanksgivings, and otlier feast 
days. The iron pot of the same owner was 
evidently for more common use. A dressing- 
case which came over in the Mayflower in the 
White family, and preserved in that of Peregrine 
White, is quite a fancy article for such a history. 
It is mainly in the style of a modem study table, 
resting upon a case of three drawers at either 
end. The top is eighteen inches long, and the 
cases of three drawers each, upon which it rests, 
about twelve inches high by six wide. The 
mechanic made a rude attempt to inlay the 
front of the drawers with irregular pieces of 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Rock. 419 

mother-of-pearl shell. The whole is quite a 
convenient article, rather pretty, though not 
elegant, and bears the marks of much but care- 
ful usage. 

The pocket-book of John Alden, which dates 
back of the time of the landing, would answer 
for the time when there was no fractional cur- 
rency, no post-office stamps, no horse nor steam- 
car tickets, and such manner of things, to be 
tucked away in one's wallet. Ample size, 
strong material, and two apartments, describe 
generally this pilgrim pocket-book. 

Here is a more interesting relic, reminding 
us not of the earthly, but of the heavenly 
riches of the pilgrims. It is John Alden's 
Bible, which afforded him and others comfort 
during the dreary ocean passage. It is in 
heavy leather binding, which is much more 
worn with use than is the pocket-book — a good 
sign ! How rich in the imperishable treasure 
would the children of the pilgrims be if their 
Bibles were ever the objects of greater interest 
than their pocket-books! 



420 Views fkom Plymouth Eock. 

We were informed that this John Alden 
Eible was not our translation — that of King 
James, which was printed about twenty years 
before the pilgrims left England — but an older 
translation. The pilgrims, who were doubtless 
early supplied with the precious word, were too 
poor to get it in the latest and best form ; be- 
sides, they would not be likely to be in haste to 
obtain this treasure from a King at whose hand 
they had suffered so much. Bradford, even so 
late as the time when he wrote his history, 
quotes from "the bishops," and not from the 
the King James Bible. 

There are many paintings of interest to the 
visitor in the Pilgrim Hall. The portrait of 
Edward Winslow is the copy of one taken from 
life, and is the only pilgrim portrait known. 
Their day was not one of photographs, or we 
should be able to see these honored fathers. 
There are other historic faces upon the walls, 
but they do not come within the range of our 
"Yiews." 

In the center of the Hall is a j^ainting of 



I 



YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 421 

"The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers." Its 
magnificent gilt frame is thirteen by sixteen 
feet, and cost four hundred dollars. The pic- 
ture itself is valued at three thousand dollars, 
and is the generous gift to the Pilgrim Society 
of .the painter, the late Henry Sargent, Esq., of 
Boston. As a work of art it is regarded as an 
effort of great merit. The figures of the chief 
pilgrims and their families are bold, and their 
countenances are expressive of striking indi- 
viduality. The visitors pause before the paint- 
ing, and study the varied expressions of the 
group with deep interest. But the student of 
history, who is seeking only illustrations of its 
facts, will turn away from this work of genius 
to the smallest well-accredited relic in the Hall. 
As a historical painting it is a decided failure. 
It gives no approach to a picture of the scenery 
of the lauding, which could easily have been 
done. Elder Brewster is represented as bend- 
ing under the weight of years and infirmities, 
exciting the sympathy of the beholder in the 
effort he makes to ascend from the shallop; 



422 YiEws FEOM Plymouth Eock. 

wliile Governor Carver, wlio was older than 
Brewster^ stands in the foreground, the model 
of meridian manhood, strength, and activity. 
Carver yielded, as we have seen, a few months 
after the landing, to the strain which the pil- 
grim enterprise had imposed; while Brewster, 
in the terrible sickness of the first winter, was 
the chief burden-bearer and nurse for others, 
and lived twenty-three years after the landing, 
full of vigor of mind and body to the last days 
of his mortal career. The Incjian in the group 
crouches before the Governor, like a cowed and 
crest-fallen warrior. It is intended for Samo- 
set, who rushed boldly into the pilgrim camp 
like a king of the country, who came con- 
descendingly to invite the strangers to his 
hospitality. 

There are many other things of interest in 
the Hall, but we must not linger to study them. 

" The Pilgrim Society," to which we are 
indebted for these instructive mementoes of our 
ancestors, was formed in 1820, and they laid 
the cx)rner-stone of this hall in 1824. It is by 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 423 

them this noble enterprise is carried forward. 
Daniel Webster gave the first address before 
them in 1820, his star of fame then appearing 
in its rising splendor. 

But the reader may be impatient to get a 
sight of TJie Rock, 



424 Views from Plymouth Rock. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE EOCK AND ITS HISTORY. 

Passing from Pilgrim Hall, along Court-street 
beyond the Court House and bank, then turning 
to the left, we are in a few minutes standing on 
the world-renowned Forefather's Rock. We can- 
not suppress our disappointment ! It is of itself 
a very common affair. A very ordinary-looking 
rock, a few feet across, lying just above the earth 
in the traveled way, is all we see. "We are natu- 
rally surprised that the rock on which the pilgrims 
landed from their shallop should be here, six or 
eight feet above the tide water, and a rod or 
two further in shore than the high-water mark. 
The facts are these. The rock is directly over^ 
but not lying on, the original spot. It has been 
lifted up, and the whole vicinity filled in with 
gravel, to make the road and adjacent wharfs. 
We must imagine Cole's Hill, now rising ab- 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 425 

ruptl J a few feet from it on the west side of the 
road, as slanting down to the beach until it 
reaches a spot nearly under the rock, and the 
rock lying upon the sand partly covered by the 
tide. Then it would be a very convenient, if 
not the only dry landing-place of the vicinity. 
From this the shallop's company could scramble 
up the steep bank, and take a survey of the 
neighborhood from the slight elevation now 
called Cole's Hill. Thus located, they could 
hardly help being attracted to this stepping- 
stone to the solid land, though they could not 
have seen, except by a heavenly vision, that it 
lay at the gateway of a mighty nation. It is 
"a boulder," which at a distant period wan- 
dered to this place from some far-off land ; a 
real pilgrim, who had waited long to welcome 
our pilgrims, the firm foundation of whose 
principles it fitly represented. " It is," says a 
geologist, " an extremely hard variety of sien- 
itic granite of a dark gray color. The mica is 
in very small quantity, in fine black particles. 
The rock, by rounded edges, bears evidence of 



426 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Eock. 

its rolled character, as well as the attempts to 
break specimens from it, which, fortunately, its 
extreme hardness renders seldom successful." 
Fine, large specimens of the rock are preserved 
for exhibition in a show-case at Pilgrim Hall. 
These give the visitor, as the parent rock at the 
shore with its foot and weather-worn surface 
cannot do, a good idea of its true appearance. 
A few small specimens are for sale, a piece the 
size of a common hen's egg bringing a dollar 
and fifty cents. These take a very fine polish. 

But as we look upon this rock, and there 
come, involuntarily, crowding upon our minds 
the visions of the way-worn but undaunted pil- 
grims, with their eye of faith and heart of con- 
fidence in God and his truth, we naturally 
pause and ask : How do we hnow this to be the 
place on which they first pressed the Plymouth 
shore? We do not like to indulge here, at 
least, in filial reveries unless we are sure that 
this is a genuine relic worthy of our confidence 
and devotion. 

The following statements contain the answer 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 427 

to this reasonable query : Thomas Faiince, who 
was the last ruling elder in the first Church at 
Plymouth, was born in 1646. So he lived 
during the last years of Bradford, Standish, 
Alice Bradford, the Governor's second wife, 
and John Holland, all of whom came over in 
the Mayflower, except Mrs. Bradford ; with 
the last two he was contemporary more than 
twenty-five years. Elder Faunce lived ninety- 
nine years, and died in 1745, having been in 
his day distinguished for intelligence and piety. 
" In the year 1741 the Elder, upon learning 
that a wharf was about to be built near or over 
the rock, which up to that period had kept its 
undisturbed position at the water's edge, and 
fearing that the march of improvement might 
subject it to injury, expressed much uneasiness. 
Though residing three miles from the village 
of Plymouth, and then in declining health, he 
left home, and, in the presence of many citizens, 
pointed out the rock we have described as being 
that one which the pilgrims, with whom he was 

well acquainted, had uniformly declared to be 

27 



4:28 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

the same on which they landed in 1620. Upon 
this occasion this venerable and excellent man 
took a final leave of this cherished memorial of 
his fathers." 

At this farewell visit of Elder Faiince to the 
rock there was present, with many others, a boy 
of the age of fifteen by the name of Ephraim 
Spoon er. He, too, became eminent for piety 
and intelligence, being forty-one years a Deacon 
of the first Plymouth Church, and fifty-two 
years Town Clerk. On the anniversary celebra- 
tion, in 1817, of the landing of the pilgrims. 
Deacon Spooner, though not able to go, like his 
aged predecessor, and wet the rock with his tears, 
conversed freely with the orator of the day before 
he delivered his oration, and gave to him his 
oft-repeated testimony concerniijg the farewell 
words of Faunce, which he distinctly remem- 
bered. The Deacon died in 1818, aged eighty- 
three, thus connecting some of those now living 
with the pilgrims, by a very direct line of com- 
munication, through which we can almost hear 
the fathers themselves speak. Their voice has 



I 



Views feom Plymouth Eock. 429 

come to us concerning this matter, through 
other aged persons, almost as directly, so that 
we may safely indulge in our pleasant waking 
dreams of the past while we gaze at the 
pilgrim rock. 

We may with equal satisfaction inquire more 
particularly about the history of this memento 
of the past. How came about one half of it to be 
over this landing place and the other in front 
of Pilgrim Hall ? There is a very pretty story 
connected with the answer to this question. In 
1775, when the rulers of England were exciting 
the anger of all the American Colonies by " tax- 
ation without representation," the descendants 
of the pilgrims who lived in the vicinity of the 
rock very naturally caught the excitement, and 
wished to do something to show their zeal in 
the cause of liberty. Like most people under 
such circumstances, they knew not exactly what 
to do, and so did not the wisest thing possible. 
A large number of them assembled and re- 
solved to show their own zeal in the good cause, 
and excite it in otliers, by removing the historic 



430 Views feom Plymouth Eock. 

boulder to the Town Square, and erecting at 
its side a flag-staff, from the top of which should 
float the flag of liberty. It was certainly a good 
idea to have the memory of the fathers associ- 
ated with such a flag. So they met at the shore 
with their screws and levers to remove the rock 
to a carriage to which was attached thirty yoke 
of oxen. It was lifted from its resting-place, and 
the foolish project seemed near its accomplish- 
ment, when the boulder burst asunder! No 
crack had been observed in it, and the excited 
crowd gazed at the accident in astonishment. 
They looked at each other as if to inquire what 
it meant. Some ventured the opinion that 
it was "a sign," a shadow of coming events; 
and they read from its separated parts a pro- 
phetic story of the separation of the Colonies 
from the mother country. After consultation 
they lowered one piece back to its sandy bed, 
and drew the otlier part, with twenty yoke of 
oxen, to the Town Square, where the proposed 
flag was made to wave over it. Yerses were 
written for the occasion containing more pa- 



Views from Plymouth Eock. 431 

triotic than poetic fire. In 1834 this portion 
of the rock made another pilgrimage to its 
present position before the Pilgrim Hall. It 
should make one more pilgrimage, and be 
joined to its fellow at the shore, and then be 
let alone. As might be expected, dm-ing these 
journeys, or rather while at rest between them, 
it has been despoiled of many pieces for mo- 
mentoes. Happily, the opportunity for such 
unseemly manifestations of interest in it is now 
over. 

In May, 1850, the Pilgrim Society took the 
first steps toward a monument to the memory 
of the fathers, to be placed on or near the rock. 
These have resulted, so far, in the erection, in 
part, of " a canopy " over it. It is a beautiful 
and costly structure of Quincy granite, with 
openings on four sides, through which the rock 
is seen. It measures fifteen feet square at its 
extreme points, and is to be thirty feet high. 
The foundation was laid on the 2d of August, 
1859, and at the time of our visit was com- 
pleted to the top of the columns. When fin- 



432 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock, 

ished it will cast its morning shadow upon 
Cole's Hill, where sleeps the dust of Carver and 
those who fell with him during the first winter 
and spring. It will be at once a mourner for 
their early death, and a cheerful herald of their 
immortal fame. 

Cole's Hill, or that part of it, at least, imme- 
diately fronting the canopy and the sea, has 
been cleared up and graded, and will, when the 
Pilgrim Society's plans are fully carried out, be 
a beautiful public ground. What has been 
done has required a considerable expenditure 
of funds in the purchase of old estates and the 
removal of buildings. We ascended the steps 
from the rock to the top of the hill, from which 
a good idea of the vicinity is obtained. A 
group of happy children were at play on the 
grounds, a vessel with southern grain was un- 
loading just in front, and only a rod or two from 
the rock, and a few rods farther off, "mackerel 
catchers" from the north-eastern coast were 
discharging their " fares." Bells were ringing 
in various parts of the village to call the schools 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 433 

together for tlie afternoon session, and the chil- 
dren thronged the streets. All deeply impressed 
me with the strides that had been made since 
" the landing," even here in staid Plymouth, in 
all that pertains to the comfort and happiness 
of the people. 

But this " canopy " is not all that the Pilgrim 
Society have undertaken in honor of the mem- 
ory of their forefathers. Let us now return to 
Court-street, pass the Pilgrim Hall, and go back 
beyond the railroad station. Turning to the 
left, we soon come to one of the hills on 
the north-west side of the village. Here, on 
the 2d of August, 1859, the corner-stone of a 
" ]N"ational Monument " was laid with imposing 
ceremony before an immense multitude. The 
foundation now completed, laid in the most 
substantial manner in cement, and forming one 
mass of solid masonry, contains about one thou- 
sand five hundred tons of Quincy granite. 
The monument, when complete, will be one of 
the grandest of the kind in the world. An 
idea of its style can be obtained from its 



434 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 

picture. The statue of Faith, by which it is 
surmounted, will be seventy feet high ; and the 
sitting statues upon the four projecting pedes- 
tals will be thirty-eight feet high. The entire 
design is very beautiful, and will embrace a 
history of itself. Extensive lands are secured 
in connection with the monument. The site 
commands a view of nearly all the places of 
historic interest in and about Plymouth. 
When it is completed we shall wish to ascend 
to the platform on which the figure of Faith 
stands, and look out upon the storied localities. 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Eock. 435 



CHAPTEK XXXIL 

PARTING VIEWS. 

Leaving the moBument grounds we go back 
into the village. But before visiting the rest 
of the interesting sites let us step into the Court 
House. The building and its grounds are in 
good taste, and on an ample scale, but the 
matter of inquiry with us is, the old records. 
We shall find no difficulty in getting a sight of 
them, for the gentleman having them in charge, 
though he must be often taxed with the in- 
quiries of strangers, is very courteous, showing 
readily these relics and answering questions. 
]S"o records are preserved earlier than 1627; 
that is, the oldest record-book which we are 
kindly shown was evidently begun at that date. 
The paper is, of course, dark colored, and not 
of fine texture, and the edges are much worn 
by handling, although it is now substantially 



436 Views feom Plymouth Rock. 

bound. The iirst record is that of a plan of 
seven lots laid out in 1620. It is in Brad- 
ford's handwriting; it is very legible, and 
was evidently written from memory seven 
years after, when the records were commenced. 
The second entry is of the allotment in 1623 
of one acre of land near the town to each per- 
son in every family, and a law establishing 
a trial by jury. This is put down from mem- 
ory, or copied from some older and lost records. 
In this second allotment Elder Brewster has 
six acres against his name, Bradford three, 
located on Watson's Hill, south of Town 
Brook. 

The records were made in the handwriting 
of Governors Bradford and Winslow, from 
162Y to 1637; they are then for many years 
made by Nathaniel Souther. When the vol- 
ume commenced the names of every family and 
person then belonging to the colony were en- 
tered on its pages, in connection with a law for 
the division of the cattle and a new assignment 
of lands. So we have, in Bradford's hand- 



YiEWS FROM Plymouth Eock. 437 

writing, a starting-point, at this date, to trace 
down the old pilgrim families. 

There are amusing things in these old manu- 
script volumes, some of which were given in 
our chapter on " curious laws." 

But we must not tarry longer at the depos- 
itory of these ancient records, for there are 
other places of interest to seek. Leyden-street 
is just at hand. It commences on the south- 
east side of Burial Hill. All about us now is 
sacred ground to those who cherish with rev- 
erence the memory of the pilgrims. We will 
first ascend the hill and take a general survey 
of Plymouth and its surroundings, and then 
visit a few important points. This is the hill 
on which the fathers built their " platform " 
and planted their ordnance, and around a part 
of which they erected a stockade ; here, after a 
few years, was the rude fort built, which was 
also their first place of public worship. It is 
one hundred and sixty-five feet above the sea 
level, and commands a charming view in every 
direction. On the east is the harbor, shut in 



438 YiEWs FROM Plymouth Eock. 

by its two arm-like beaches, seeming almost to 
meet, making the entrance into which the 
shallop was guided by the Divine hand on that 
stormy night when the pilot's wisdom failed 
and all were bewildered. A little to the 
north is Clarke's Island, where the first Sab- 
bath in these parts was spent, and where some 
of the pilgrims would have planted the colony. 
Far in the distance, just appearing above the 
horizon, is Cape Cod, where five weary weeks 
were spent by the Mayflower Company. In 
the harbor, on the north-east, looms up Standish 
Hill, which we shall certainly want to visit. 
On our right, and to the south-east, is Manomet 
Highlands, by which the pilot of the shallop made 
the vicinity of the place he sought. Directly 
across the Town Brook, and near us to the 
south, is Watson's Hill. That is the spot where 
Massasoit appeared with his sixty men, and where 
the famous treaty was made which was so faith- 
fully fulfilled by both parties, and which proved 
of great benefit to both. The hill was called 
Strawberry Hill by the pilgrims, but a later 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Kock. 439 

owner by the name of Watson has' given it the 
present name. The Indians called it Cantau- 
ganteest ! They were very fond of this site, as 
used to be evident by many marks of early set- 
tlements. It had never-failing springs of pure 
water, and was near their hunting and fishing 
grounds. 

Turning our face toward the south-west we 
follow the Town Brook up a ravine until it is 
lost between or around the hills. Billington 
Sea, from which it flows, is just hidden by the 
hill-tops. Turning full to the west we see 
before us, and to the right and left, a continuous 
range of hills. Plymouth is, indeed, in every 
direction, a rough-looking country, and in its 
winter garb of ice and snow must be drear and 
forbidding. It will be recollected that the pil- 
grims, viewing it from the Mayflower as she 
lay at anchor, were delighted with its appear- 
ance. They saw Freedom sitting quietly under 
its trees, or shouting joyously from the tops 
of its barren hills, and the sight hung a halo 
upon its forests and rocks, and gave to all the 



44:0 YiEWS FROM Plymouth Kock. 

frostj air of winter the balmy breath of 
summer. 

The valley of Town Brook to Billington Sea 
is filled with clattering machinery and busy 
workmen. 

Turning to the hill- top on which we stand, 
graver sights meet our eye. In the town, even 
now, the living population is not very numerous ; 
here is a city of the dead. When this first 
received the remains of the colonists is not cer- 
tainly known ; but it is thought that immedi- 
ately after the burials on Cole's Hill of the first 
winter, when the house was erected which took 
the double character of fort and place of wor- 
ship, the hill-top adjoining received their dead. 
The hill soon received and long retained the 
name of Fort Hill : and no grave stones were 
erected until early in the next century. So 
we have only uncertain tradition by which to 
mark the exact spot where the fathers lie. 
The dust of Governor Bradford and of Governor 
Prince, that of Dr. Fuller and of John Howland, 
the last survivor of the Mayflower Company, 



m 



i: * 



I'ii"' if'! 



: 1"' 







YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Rock. 443 

undoubtedly lie near us as we stand musing 
among the monuments of the dead ; but we 
may not point to the precise place. Monu- 
ments have been erected to many of them by 
their descendants. That of the Cushman an- 
cestors, erected by their descendants in 1858, 
is the most worthy of the place and object. 

Though we are disappointed in our earnest 
wish to see the graves of the pilgrims, we are 
consoled by the thought that they live in the 
strength which they gave to the ever- swelling 
tide of the religion of Christ, which will yet 
cover all the earth. 

Burial Hill slopes gradually toward the har- 
bor shore on the east, and also toward Town 
Brook on the south. Ley den-street runs along 
this eastern slope near the edge of the descent to 
the Brook. The nineteen lots for that number of 
famihes, into which, it will be remembered, the 
Mayflower Company was divided, were laid out 
on this street, beginning doubtless near the shore, 
and coming up to the foot of the hill where the 
Church of the First Parish now stands. Death 



444 YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 

rendered but seven necessary, and the site of 
these we shall be able to find by the aid of 
Bradford's hints in the old records. They lie 
along on the right hand as we go down the street, 
the Baptist Church noAV just completed being 
about the middle of them. Two or three lots 
beyond this church stood the " Common House " 
used as a general resort while the others were 
building. I^ow let us step down between the 
buildings occupying these lots and the Brook. 
The slope is quite sharp, and the pilgrims' 
" garden lots " running this way must have 
been very cramped and hard to cultivate. The 
tide makes up the Brook here so that they must 
have gone farther up for water. The land im- 
mediately around the mouth of the Brook on 
this side is low, forming a kind of basin, where 
salt hay was cut in " the olden time," for the use 
of the parish minister, this being a part of the 
stipulated pay. As we stood just here, looking 
into the stream and along its marshy bank, and 
up to the site of the Common House, we felt 
the dreariness of the situation of the fathers 



Views from Plymouth Kock. 445 

during their early settlement, and especially the 
almost desperate condition of tliose seven^ includ- 
ing Brewster and Stan dish, who alone were able 
to care for the sick and bury the dead at the 
crisis of the sickness. The securing of a supply 
of water alone, for all purposes, at such a time, 
must have been no trifling task. 

Going beyond the mill, which now stretches 
across the stream just below here, and standing, 
as we did, at low tide, where the stream empties 
into the harbor, one is impressed with the labor 
of bringing the goods as well as passengers 
from the Mayflower to the shallop's landing on 
the Brook near the Common House. A dreary 
sand-flat extends for miles in every direction. 
As it happened, " a coaster," of perhaps one 
hundred and thirty tons, lay at anchor about a 
mile and a half away, and not far from the 
spot where the Mayflower must have rode 
while waiting for the colonists to get settled. 
Though the coaster was smaller than the May- 
flower, she seemed to be aground at that dis- 
tance. The difficulties, then, of the pilgrim's 



M6 YiEWS FEOM Plymouth Kock. 

removal to tlie shore were increased by the fact 
that they were able to work only at nearly high 
tide,- and having to accommodate themselves 
to the changing high water hour whether it 
was early or late in the day. To have still 
clung to their purpose of making these shores 
their permanent home, after their experience of 
months, so as not tO express a wish to return in 
the Mayflower, proved indeed what they had 
said before leaving England: "We are well 
weaned from the delicate milk of our mother 
country, and inured to the difficulties of a 
strange and hard land." 

Having glanced at the objects of interest in 
Plymouth we returned to the depot, took the 
cars for Kingston, and there entered the stage 
for Duxbury. The distance this way is eight 
miles. A pleasant sail from the mouth of 
Town Brook, of about three miles, would have 
brought us to the same point. In Duxbury, 
under the guidance of our friend and kind 
host, the Rev. Dr. Coggshall, we could not fail 
to find every spot of historic interest. We 



YiEws FROM Plymouth Rook. 447 

sought first, of course, the "Captain's Hill." 
It is an oval-shaped elevation of one hundred 
and eighty feet. The view is nearly the same 
as from Burial Hill, but more extensive and 
beautiful. On the south-west is Jones River, 
up which the pilgrims sailed in their shallop 
before selecting their site, and upon whose 
banks some were in favor of locating. Be- 
tween that and the Captain's Hill Bradford 
had his last residence; and a lot near the 
Kingston depot is shown as that on which his 
son, Major William Bradford, lived. 

We descended the hill directly east, and 
paused midway between its northern and south- 
ern extremity. Here we had full before us 
the "Nook," as it was called, extending to 
the water's edge, and bearing to the north. 
This was Elder Brewster's farm — the land 
he cultivated when over seventy years of 
age, and on which, as we have stated, he 
planted the first apple-trees of New England, 
an act which seems trifling, but of no small 
merit. Turning to the right we see what was 



448 YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 

the farm of Captain Standish, whicli included 
the hill itself. We passed down the hill still 
facing east, and walked through a farm-yard, 
up a cart-path to an old cellar. On this spot 
a few years ago, lived an aged man, a descend- 
ant of the pilgrims, by the name of Soule. The 
house and aged occupant have both passed 
away. The diamond-shaped glass among the 
rubbish indicated the age of the building. This 
house was, beyond a doubt, the immediate suc- 
cessor of that which Brewster built on the same 
spot, and in which he closed his eventful career. 
A few years ago, on the land of the vicinity, a 
silver spoon was found, marked "J. B.," the 
initials of his son Jonathan. 

We turned from this hallowed spot and 
walked a short distance south-east to the 
banks of the sea-shore. Here, only a few rods 
from the wave-washed beach, is the site of the 
house of Miles Standish. That which he built 
was enlarged by his son after his death, and 
the new part occupied as a store. The whole 
was burned in 1665, and the son erected 



YiEws FEOM Plymouth Rock. 449 

another house farther south. A few years 
ago a distill guished antiquarian made a thor- 
ough examination of the ground. After re- 
moving two or three feet of dirt and charred 
matter he uncovered the stone foundations 
of the house. It showed that the addition 
was long and narrow, and so placed as to strike 
the main building at a sharp angle, one corner 
just touching it. A most singular construction, 
but perhaps devised for better defense against 
Indian attacks. The work of the excavator 
confirmed the tradition that this was the Stan- 
dish residence, and that merchandise was kept 
there. Considerable quantities of the remains 
of axes, hooks, door-trimmings, knives^ spoons, 
pipes, nails, etc., were turned out. 

"We found, a few rods south-westward of 
this site, the locality of the famous " Standish 
Spring." A depression in the ground, around 
which were laid, stones, was all that was 
to be seen. The sea has tapped it below 
the bank, and it now bubbles up on the 
beach. 



450 YiEws FROM Plymouth Kock. 

We walked a little further south to take a 
better view of the Standish farm. His house 
stood on the rise of land, which bordered on an 
extended meadow, the great attraction, no 
doubt, in his removal here. The meadow is 
now a salt marsh. The encroachments of the 
sea have spoiled the best land, have come near 
the foundation of his house, and will soon 
efface all evidence of its having stood here. 
The Captain and the Elder located their houses 
on that line of their farms which brought them 
near together. This could not be an accident. 
Their long-established love for each other was 
strong in old age. On these lands, when meet- 
ing in the fields, and by firesides near the spots 
we examined, • they talked over the eventful 
scenes of the past, and, could it be otherwise? 
their hopes through Christ of the eternal 
future. 

Reader, let us from the Captain's Hill take 
our last survey of this Iiistoric locality. The 
men whom we have attempted to hold up to 
your view have passed away. The same 



YiEWS FKOM Plymouth Eock. 451 

ocean, rock, and river, are here, but they 
who have given them renown are dead. Yet 
their influence lives. Yiews that shall em- 
brace them fully must extend to the latest 
time. 



THE END. 



BOOKS FOR SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

200 nM^xxlberry-sti-eet, INTeTv "St^ox^k. 



LITE OF EEV. EIOHAED WATSON, 

AiTthor of Theological Institutes, Dictionary. Expo- 
sition of the Gospels, etc. By Stephen B. Wickeks. 
18mo., pp. 262. 

SEMOE CLASSES IE SUNDAY- SCHOOLS. 

Containing Cooper's Prize Essay, and other Treatises 
on the Subject. 18mo., pp. 203. 

PAEISj AIJCIENT Am MODEEU. 

18mo., pp. 212. 

THEEE MONTHS UNDEE THE SNOW. 

The Journal of a Young Inhabitant of the Jura. 
Translated from the French of J. J. Pokchat. Four 
Illustrations. 18mo., pp. 178. 

THEEE DAYS ON THE OHIO EIVEE. 

By Father "William. Two Illustrations, 18mo., pp. 60. 

ORIGIN AND PEOGEESS OP LANGUAGE. 

IBmo., pp. 227. 

THE LAMP AND THE LANTESN; 

Or, Light for the Tent and the Traveler. By James 
Hamilton, D.D. 18mo., pp. 202. 

LIPE OP ALEXANDEE THE GEEAT. 

18mo., pp. 208. 

MY SABBATH-SCKOOL SCHOLAES. 

Eecollections of my Sabbath-School Scholars. By a 
Minister of the Gospel. 18mo., pp. 70. 

THE BIBLE IN MANY TONGUES, 

ISmo., pp. 216. 

EEMAEEA.BLE ESCAPES PEOM PEEIL. 

ISmo., pp. 171. 



BOOKS FOE SUNDAY- SCHOOLS. 

SOO IMiilberry-street, JSiew "itTork. 



MATTY GREGG-; 

Or, tlie Woman that did what she could. By the 
Author of " The Lost Key," " The Golden Mushroom," 
"Margaret Craven," etc. Five Illustrations. 18mo., 
pp. 170. 

THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST: 

With Explanatory Observations and Illustrations from 
Modern Travels. Intended for the Young. Six Illus- 
trations. ISmo., pp. 265. 

ONE TALENT IMPROVED; 

Or, the Life and Labors of Miss Susan G. Bowler, a 
Successful Sunday-School Teacher. By B. K. Peibce. 
ISmo., pp. 197. 

WE ARE SEVEN; 

Or, the Little Mourner comforted. By Elizabeth 
Maria Lloyd. 18mo., pp. 51. 

THE FORTY- TWO CHILDREN 

At Mount Bethel. By a Sabbath-School Teacher. 
ISrao., pp. 47. 

SCRIPTURE CHARACTERS: 

Letters on the Distinguishing Excellencies of Kemark- 
able Scripture Personages. By Eev. Egbert Hustoist. 

18mo., pp. 24:5. 

LITTLE ANN; 

Or, Familiar Conversations upon Interesting Subjects 
between a Child and her Parents. With Illustrations. 
18mo., pp. 96. 

AMOS ARMFIELD; 

Or, the Leather-covered Bible. Five Illustrations. 

18mo., pp. 152. 

KINDNESS TO ANIMALS. 

By Charlotte Elizabeth. Seven Illustrations. 18mo., 
pp. 128. 

S ^ 



BOOKS FOE SUNDAY- SCHOOLS. 

200 IMulberry-street, JN'ew "IkTorls:. 

ROLAND RAND; 

Or, God's Poor. By Mrs. C. M. Edwakds. Three 
Illustrations. 18mo., pp. 131. 

THE CHILD'S PREACHER: 

A Series of Addi-esses to the Young. Founded on 
Scripture Texts. 18mo., pp. 451. 

THE EARLY DEAD:* 

Containing Brief Memoirs of Sunday-Sehool Children. 
Four volumes, 18mo. 

A MEMORIAL 

Of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, as exhibited in 
the Life and Death of Miss Mary M'Owan. By her 
Father, Eev. Petek M'Owan. ISmo., pp. 83. 

IDUM^A. 

With a Survey of Arabia and the Arabians. 18mo., 
pp. 213. 

JOHNNY M'KAY; 

Or, the Sovereign : the Story of an Honest Boy. Five 
Illustrations. 18mo., pp. 220. 

ADDIE OAKLAND; 

Or, Charity the True Eoad to Happiness. Six Illus 
trations. ISmo., pp. 136. 

MY GRANDMAMMA GILBERT. 

By the Author of "My Grandfather Gregory." Hlus- 
trated. 18mo., pp. 139. 

TYRE : 

Its Eise, Glory, and Desolation. With Notices of the 
PhcBuicians generally. ISmo., pp. 214. 

LITTLE JESSIE'S WORK, 

And the Broken Eosebuds. Two Engravings. ISmo., 
pp. 88. 



K ^9 

BOOKS FOR SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

SOO ]NJ[xilberry-street, DSTew ^iforb. 

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 

Sketclies from the History of Napoleon Bonaparte. 
Written for the Young. Six lUustrations. 18mo., 
pp. 126. 

THE TEMPTATION; 

Or, Henry Thornton. Showing the Progress and Fruits 
of Intemperance. Three Hlustrations. 18mo., pp. 90. 



HARRIET GRAY; 

Or, the Selfish Girl cured. 18mo., pp. 80. 

THE LIVES OF THE CESARS. 

For "Week-day Eeading. Six Hlustrations. ISmo., 
pp. 221. 

BE GOOD: 

An Important Precept Hlustrated in Ealph's Account 
of a Visit to the Country. Four Illustrations. ISmo., 
pp. 60. 

HAD ASS AH; 

Or, the Adopted Child. Two lUustrations. ISmo., 
pp. 112. 

CUBA.. 

By Eev. James Rawson, A.M. Illustrated. ISmo., 

pp. 70. 

THE MISSIONARY TEACHER: 

A Memoir of Cyrus Shepard, embracing a Brief Sketch 
of the Early History of the Oregon Mission. By Eev. 
Z. A. ]\fuDGE. Seven Illustrations. ISmo., pp. 221. 

CHEERFUL CHAPTERS: 

Adapted to Youth, and not unsuited to Age. By old 
A-LXH Gray. Four Illustrations. ISmo., pp. 179. 

DENNIS BROOKS; 

Or, a Mother's Grief. ISmo., pp. 62. 
fe ^ 



a- 



BOOKS FOR STJNDAI- SCHOOLS. 

SOO JNIulberry-street, View ^^ork. 

FRONTIER SKETCHES. 

Selected and arranged by the Author of "Dying 
Hours," etc. ISmo., pp. 142. 

CHARLES DURAN; 

Or, the Career of a Bad Boy. By the Author of " The 
Waldos." Three Illustrations. 18mo., pp. 59. 

OUR ENGLISH BIBLE. 

ISmo., pp. 218. 

BE WISE. 

A Story in Seven Chapters. By Mrs. Maxwell. Two 
Illustrations. ISmo., pp. 94. 

PRISON SKETCHES. 

By a Chaplain. ISmo., pp. 105. 

THE TEMPEST; 

Or, an Account of the Nature, Properties, Dangers, 
and Uses of Wind in various Parts of the World. 
Fourteen Illustrations. ISmo., pp. 230. 

COLUMBUS; 

Or, the Discovery of America. By George Cubitt. 
ISmo., pp. 163. 

THE W-ALDOS; 

Or, Incidents of the American Eevolution. Two Illus- 
trations. ISmo., pp. 106. 

A VISIT TO THE CATACOMBS; 

Or, First Christian Cemeteries at Eome: and a Mid- 
night Visit to Mount Vesuvius. By Selina Bukbury. 
ISmo., pp. 108. 

MEMORY'S PICTURES; 

Or, Scenes of Childhood. Two Illustrations. ISmo., 
pp. 68. 



©- 



B 



BOOKS FOR SUNDAY- SCHOOLS. 

SOO nVIxxlbeVry-street, ]N'e^v "York:. 



CHARLES ROUSSEL; 

Or, Industry and Honesty. Adapted from the French 
of J. J. PoECHAT, Author of " Three Months under the 
Snow." By Eev. T. T. Haverfield. Three Illustra- 
tions. 18mo., pp. 224. 

OLD CRAG-; 

Or, the Alison Family. An Authentic Tale of Eural 
and Factory Life. By a Minister. Five Illustrations. 
18mo., pp. 216. 

RAMBLES IN THE SOUTH. 

Eecollections of Eambles in the South. By Father 
"William. Five Illustrations. ISmo., pp. 196. 

STORIES OF SCHOOLBOYS. 

Four Illustrations. 18mo,, pp. 143. 

GOOD HEALTH: 

The Possibility, Duty, and Means of Obtaining and 
Keeping it. 18mo., pp. 214. 

JAMES BAIRD: 

Or. the Basket Maker's Son. By the Author of " Father 
Jolinson," "Thoughts of Heaven," " Prince Family," 
etc. Four Illustrations. ISmo., pp. 144. 

KENNETH FORBES; 

Or, Fourteen "Ways of Studying the Bible. Seven 
Illustrations. 18mo., pp. 298. 

THE YOUTH'S MONITOR. 

Four volumes, 18mo., each, pp. 288. 

OLD EDINBURG-H: 

A Historical Sketch of the Ancient Metropolis of 
Scotland. 18mo., pp. 208. 

SWITZERLAND • 

Historical and Descriptive. 18mo., pp. 214. 



BOOKS FOE SUNDAY- SCHOOLS. 

SOO IMulberry-street, I^iTew ^^t^orb. 

THE LOCAL PREACHER; 

Or, the Trial of Faitli. Eeminiscences of the West 
India Islands. Second Series, No. III. Three Illus- 
trations. 18mo., pp. 135. 

THE RODEN FAMILY; 

Or, the Sad End of Bad Ways. Eeminiscences of the 
West India Islands. Second Series, No. II. Three 
Illustrations. 18mo., pp. 159. 

RELIGIOUS ANECDOTES 

And Moral Lessons for Sabbath-School Scholars. By 
G. D. Chenoweth. 18mo., pp. 110. 

THE IRISH SCHOLAR; 

Or, Popery and Protestant Christianity. A Narrative. 
By Eev. T. W. Avelino. Three Illustrations. ISmo., 
pp. 175. 

ANNIE WALTON. 

A Tale from Eeal Life. Three Illustrations. ISmo., 
pp. 119. 

VILLAGE SCIENCE; 

Or, the Laws of Nature explained. By the Author 
of " Peeps at Nature," " Nature's Wonders," etc. With 
Illustrations. ISmo., pp. 285. 

THE DYING HOURS 

Of Good and Bad Men contrasted. 18mo., pp. 150. 

THE CHINESE; 

Or, Conversations on the Country and People of China. 
Illustrated. 18mo., pp. 144. 

LEARNING TO FEEL. 

Illustrated. Two volumes, 18mo., pp. 298. 

LEARNING TO ACT. 

[ Three Illustrations. ISmo., pp. 144. 

^ . ® 



® — 

BOOKS FOR SUNDAY- SCHOOLS. 

SOO IMixlberry-street, I^ew ^iToi'lr. 

THE WILMOT FAMILY; 

Or, Children at Home. A Picture of Eeal Life. From 
the second London edition. Five Illustrations. 18mo., 
pp. 314. 

TOO LATE! 

Or, the Fatal Effects of Procrastination. Illustrated 
in a Series of Authentic Sketches. By Kev. J. T. 
Baer, A.m., Author of " Eecollections of a Minister," 
etc., etc. 18mo., pp. 115. 

THE FOSTER BROTHERS; 

Or, Duty To-day and Pleasure To-morrow; A Story 
for Boys. 18mo., pp. 138. 

THE MARTYRS OF BOHEMIA; 

Or, Biief Memoirs of John Huss and Jerome of Prague. 
18mo., pp. 237. 

THE GOLDEN CITY: 

With a Sketch of a Family on its Way thither. Two 
Illustrations. 18mo., pp. 94. 

THE SOLAR SYSTEM. 

Illustrated. Two volumes, ISmo., pp. 442. 

•THE SHIPWRECK; 

Or, a Summer Scene and Winter Story. Two Illuiitra- 
tions. 18mo., pp. 109. 

CHRISTIAN JOY; 

Or, the Second Fruit of the Spirit. Illustrated in an 
^, Epistolary jSTarrative. 18mo., pp. 87. 

THE BRANDY DROPs'; 

Or, Charlie's Pledge. A Temperance Story. By AtMT 
Julia. 18mo., pp. 103. 

LEARNING TO CONVERSE. 

Illustrated. 18mo., pp. 134. 




'■ " PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIbS, LP. 
1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 







'//Vwc^'" 










/. 



